


Just Want To Be With You (Only You)

by WrittenByMe_C



Category: High School Musical (Movies)
Genre: Angst, But she is NOT the bad guy, Chad's a dick, Cheating, Coming Out, Forced coming out, Its not okay but its not not okay, M/M, SO, Sexuality Crisis, Taylor is a bit mean, bisexual awakening, but he's Going Through It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:41:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29474139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WrittenByMe_C/pseuds/WrittenByMe_C
Summary: Senior year, end-of-term musical, prom, graduation.Chad was looking forward to getting through it all intact, his girlfriend by his side.But, Taylor's been a bit pushy lately and Chad keeps finding himself drifting toward a certain blond dancing twin.~“Ugh, it’s always baseball with you.” Ryan said with a mock pout.“Can’t deny the charm of the game.” Chad said, leaning in across the piano without even realising it. “Even you have a pretty good swing.”“Oh, how could I forget about that?” Ryan laughed with a smile that said he most certainly had not forgotten. Kelsi looked between the two with confusion, and excitement, and a weird feeling of not-belonging. It felt like she was watching something she shouldn’t, something forbidden.
Relationships: Chad Danforth/Ryan Evans
Comments: 16
Kudos: 90





	Just Want To Be With You (Only You)

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this in September, got about 10k words then didn't touch it for a few weeks, wrote about 10k more, then didn't touch it for a few MONTHS, and now it's done. It's finally done. Go, be free!
> 
> Mild warning for biphobia toward the end & please let me know if there are any other warnings you think I should include!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not condone cheating, nor do I agree with the common misconception that bisexuals are more likely to cheat.

He could _not_ believe what he was wearing. It itched, it was too big, he couldn’t walk properly in it, and the colours were all wrong for his complexion. Why was he dressed like a clown in the first place? There have never been any clowns at East High, as far as he knew, and there certainly wasn’t a circus act in the show.

“Hey, who’s in charge of costumes?” Chad asked a random tech girl as she walked by. The girl startled.

“Uh, Ryan, maybe?” She didn’t sound sure but before Chad could ask if she was guessing the girl had hurried off.

Chad stalked around backstage looking for the male Evans before someone finally took pity and told him that he was onstage with Troy and Gabriella. He made his way over and watched as Ryan danced through the choreography with the couple. It was sort of adorable. Chad shook the thought from his head and stepped through the set doors as Ryan turned around, coming face to face with each other. Chad motioned to his costume, trying to convey his distaste for it without interrupting the song.

Ryan’s hands went to his mouth as he tried to physically hold back a laugh at how ridiculous Chad looked. It didn’t work, and a full-bellied laughed burst from the blond. As Ryan stepped forward and placed his hand on Chad’s shoulder, Chad quickly realised that he was not in charge of the costumes and the girl had, in fact, been guessing. Somewhere in the back of his mind he felt that he should be offended on Ryan’s behalf, but the thought was quickly pushed away as he saw Ryan’s eyes sparkle with mirth.

As Ryan reached out to take his other shoulder, Taylor suddenly appeared beside them, dragging Chad away. Ryan was still laughing, but less enthusiastically, as Chad looked back with a sorry expression for being interrupted.

~~~~

Chad had been to his fair share of parties, be it birthday parties, post-game parties, parents-are-out-of-town parties, you name it he’s been there. But a drama club party? Somehow, he’d managed to avoid those, and he was extra thankful for that now that he was at one.

Okay, so technically it was Troy’s party, and if Chad was honest it wasn’t _that_ much different to the celebration they had after the big game. Loud music, lots of laughter, constant conversation. But instead of throwing a ball around with his friends, chatting up scouts, or messing around on the swings with Taylor, Chad was looking for an escape.

He wanted to be there, he just wished there were more people so that he could blend in; forget he was Chad Danforth and instead just be another teen at another party. As it was though, there were just the ten of them: Jason, Zeke, Martha, Kelsi, Sharpay, Ryan, Taylor, Troy, and Gabby. And Chad himself, of course.

They were scattered about the yard, all finding something to do or talk about. Martha was helping Jason and Zeke remember the choreography for the prom number, but the two boys were more interested in joking than footwork. Kelsi had brought along her keyboard and was trying to compose some music with Gabriella, though the two were gossiping more than anything else. Sharpay had cornered Troy, who was looking around desperately for an escape but was yet to find one. Taylor was sat next to Chad on the edge of the trampoline. She had tucked herself under his arm, holding it over her shoulder because every time she let go it would fall. She was watching Jason and Zeke with an amused but disappointed expression, attempting to engage Chad in conversation about the boys’ immaturity. Chad wasn’t paying attention though. He was lost in thought, only broken when he noticed a certain blond had disappeared.

“I need the toilet, I’ll be back.” He told Taylor distractedly as he stood up. She sighed a little but acquiesced and released his arm back to him.

Chad made his way into the house quietly, not wanting to startle Mrs Bolton who was working in the downstairs study. He loitered in the kitchen for a bit, asking himself why he even cared, before he made his way toward Troy’s room.

When he got to his best friend’s room, he leant against the doorframe and watched as Ryan looked through the things on Troy’s shelves. The blond didn’t notice he was there at first, instead he picked up the yearbook from the end of the previous year and flicked through the pages curiously. He paused on one page, Chad couldn’t see which, and a small smile graced his lips. Chad felt a twinge in his chest at the sight and knocked on the doorway to announce his presence.

Ryan looked up, not as startled as he probably should have been when being caught snooping in someone else’s room. His smile didn’t leave his face as he looked at Chad, and he put down the yearbook to wave slightly.

“Why does Troy have bongos?” Ryan asked, clearly having wanted to ask someone that since entering the room and seeing the instrument. Chad chuckled and stepped properly into the room. He picked up the bongos from their place on the sideboard and moved to sit on the bed.

“Pretty sure these were a gag gift from Zeke. Y’know because of the musical? Troy got him flowery oven gloves.” Chad tapped on the bongos, not caring to make any proper tune but just so he had something to do with his hands.

“That seems alarmingly heteronormative.” Ryan said, sitting next to Chad.

“Hetero-what?”

“Heteronormative. Promoting heterosexuality as the norm. Like, thinking only girls can bake, so a man baking must mean he’s taking the role of a woman, so Zeke needs girly oven gloves.” Ryan explained.

“But” Chad thought out loud, “wouldn’t assuming flowery oven gloves are meant for girls also be considered heteronormative?”

Ryan stared at the dark-skinned boy next to him and let out a breathy laugh, “Yeah, I suppose it could be.”

He smiled at Ryan, who plucked the bongos out of his grasp and stood up to put them back. When Ryan turned around again, he was holding the guitar that Troy also kept in his room.

“Can he play?” the blond asked.

“I’ve never seen or heard him, but that doesn’t really mean much nowadays.” Chad shrugged.

Ryan sat down crossed legged to the left of Chad. He positioned the guitar and pondered what song to play. Chad shuffled backwards slightly and brought his right leg up, leaning his cheek against his knee as he watched Ryan start to strum.

“That’s the song Troy and Gabriella sung right?”

“That’s such a vague question given how many songs they’ve sung, but yes, it is.” Ryan kept strumming. “You know the words?”

Chad scoffed, “Yeah right.”

Ryan raised an eyebrow at him, “I bet you do. You probably picked them up without even realising.”

Chad shrugged – it felt like he was constantly shrugging – and watched as Ryan circled back round to the start of the song and began to sing.

_We’re soaring, flying, there’s not a star in heaven that we can’t reach._

His voice started quietly, clearly expecting Sharpay’s vocals to take over at any minute, but as he continued it grew a bit louder, a bit stronger.

_If we’re trying, so we’re breaking free._

Ryan was singing the song much slower than the original composition, and Chad had a sneaking suspicion it was for his sake. Without even realising it, Chad started to mutter the words along with him.

_You know the world can see us, in a way that’s different than who we are._

Chad saw Ryan smile softly as he heard him join in with the perfect harmony. The smile weirdly encouraged Chad to sing louder, his own lips stretching out into a small grin.

_Creating space between us, ‘til we’re separate hearts._

Chad swallowed thickly as Ryan looked away, suddenly becoming extremely focused on his finger placement as he played. When Chad sang the next line, Ryan remained quiet.

_But your faith, it gives me strength, strength to believe._

Ryan looked back up at him to join in again.

_We’re breaking fr-_

One of the strings on the guitar snapped, creating a loud clanging noise, and whipping up to smack Ryan across the cheek.

“Oh my God!” Chad said, grabbing the guitar from Ryan and moving it out the way to inspect the injury. There was a small cut across Ryan’s cheekbone that was already starting to prickle with ruby red droplets of blood. Chad was about to run to the bathroom and get the first aid kit when he noticed Ryan didn’t appear to be in any pain. In fact, Ryan was laughing.

Chad stared, bewildered, and slightly mesmerised – though he wouldn’t admit it – as Ryan’s eyes quickly filled with tears from his laughter.

“What, what’s so funny?” Chad asked, trying to hold back confused laughter himself.

Ryan shook his head, “Literally nothing, it actually stings like hell.” he said through snorts.

Chad stood up and finally retrieved the first aid kit. Walking back into Troy’s room, he didn’t think twice about sitting close to Ryan and guiding his face closer so he could clean the small wound. Ryan’s breath hitched slightly, but if Chad noticed he didn’t react.

“This’ll be cold.” Chad whispered, pressing the antiseptic wipe onto the blond’s cheekbone. Ryan hissed quietly but otherwise didn’t react as Chad gently cleared away the small spots of blood. When it had been cleaned, the cut appeared to have started to heal already as no new blood started to sprout. Chad threw the wipe expertly into the bin with a flourish, perhaps showing off a little bit. Ryan chuckled at the display of athleticism. He reached out and pulled at the broken string on the guitar that had been abandoned next to them.

“I’ll pay to get this fixed.” Ryan said quietly. “I can say I was snooping, dropped it or something.”

Chad cocked his head to the side, “Why?”

“I just assumed you wouldn’t want people to know you were singing.” Ryan said matter-of-factly, voice still quiet. “Rather well, I might add. You claim you can’t dance – which you totally can – but who knew you had pipes?”

Chad lowered his head bashfully. If the compliment had come from anyone else, he might have been embarrassed or even tried to defend himself but coming from Ryan it just made his stomach do somersaults. When he lifted his head again, he noticed just how close he and Ryan had been sitting. He opened his mouth to speak when a voice called through the house.

“Chad? Where are you, man, we wanna shoot some hoops!” Troy’s voice got louder as he got closer to his bedroom. Chad leaned back quickly, not wanting to be seen – seen what? Sitting with a friend? But was that really all this was?

“Looks like you’re needed, basketball boy.” Ryan said with a sad smile. He stood up from the bed and walked out the room without another word, passing Troy in the doorway.

“What are you doing in here? And with Ryan of all people?” Before Chad could stumble through an answer to Troy’s questions, the star basketball player noticed the broken instrument on his bed. “Yo! What happened?”

“Oh,” Chad said, standing up and handing the guitar over, “Ryan uh, dropped it. I heard it break so. That’s why I was in here. With him.”

“Damn. Well, it’s not like I played it anyway, it was a gift from my uncle when I was like thirteen. I don’t know. Anyway, c’mon, let’s go play.”

~~~~

Two hours later and Chad was exhausted from throwing the basketball around. It had gotten relatively dark, the sun having started to set around half an hour ago, and a pleasant breeze was sweeping through the backyard and drying the sweat off of the boys’ skin. His exhaustion wasn’t physical – he’d been playing basketball since kindergarten, one casual game wasn’t enough to knock him out – but mentally, emotionally, he’d been yawning since the first basket. Sometimes, though he would never admit this out loud, he just didn’t have it in him to focus on a game.

“Chad, you good man?” Zeke asked as Chad fumbled with the ball for the third time in about ten minutes.

“Yeah,” He replied, shaking his head clear of the fog, “Think I have a headache coming. I’m gonna call it quits.” He aimed for the basket one last time – missing, but not by much – before he went to sit on the trampoline with the girls and Ryan.

The group were sat in a circle around the trampoline, with quite a bit of distance between each person given that it was so large. Taylor patted the space next to her for him to sit, but Chad pretended he didn’t see and instead sat in the gap between Ryan and Kelsi. Ryan smiled at him as he sat, but he pretended he didn’t see that either.

Kelsi had her keyboard with her again. At Chad’s raised eyebrow she explained that it was battery powered and she had brought spares. He laughed a little at the dedication of the girl but was impressed at the same time. The group were currently attempting to get Sharpay to practice a song at the correct speed, but the female Evans twin wasn’t having it. Chad will never understand her need for such outlandish performances – he could barely cope with singing in a bedroom with only one other person.

“Is that a treehouse?” Ryan asked suddenly, and the girls paused their conversation to look in the direction he was pointing.

“Uh huh,” Gabriella replied, a wistful smile on her face, “Troy built it with his Dad.”

“Oh wow, he just neglected to tell you I helped huh?” Chad asked with a laugh to hide his pain at once again being left out of his best friend’s life. Gabby smiled at him but didn’t say anything, clearly not wanting to upset him further. “I was the one that suggested the pirate wheel.”

“There’s a pirate wheel? You have to show me this!” Ryan exclaimed, causing everyone to bobble slightly as he clambered off the trampoline. He stood patiently by the side of the trampoline while he waited for Chad to decide what he was going to do.

Taylor cleared her throat, “Could you not just, check it out by yourself?” She asked with a not-so-subtle sneer at Ryan.

The boy shrugged, “Never hurts to be given a tour.”

“It’s like, one room-” Taylor cut herself off as Chad slid off of the trampoline and smiled at Ryan.

“There’s a skylight as well – in the right weather you can see the stars.” He said, walking away from the girls and toward the treehouse, Ryan quickly falling into step with him.

They climbed up the ladder with ease, though the trapped door was a bit of a squeeze to get through for Chad now that his shoulders were broader than they had been when he was eight.

“Ah, the classic ‘Keep Out!’ sign.” Ryan said as he took in the treehouse for the first time. Chad sat down in the middle of the floor, the beanbags that he and Troy used to have up there long since thrown out. He brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs, the air slightly colder higher up. “It’s not very weather-proof.”

“Always a critic.” Chad smirked.

Ryan rolled his eyes, the corners of his mouth turning up, and continued to walk around the structure. He found the pirate wheel but was disappointed to find that it rusted to the point it could no longer turn. He returned to the main body of the treehouse, sitting next to Chad much like how he had on the bed a few hours earlier. The cut on his face was surrounded by a small pink border from where it was starting to heal.

“So how does the skylight open? Manually, I’m assuming.” Ryan asked, looking around the room, his eyes landing on a small crank on one of the walls. “That?” Chad nodded and watched as the blond stood up to try and open the skylight.

Chad let him struggle for a few seconds, amused, before he gave in and decided to help. He stood up and stepped toward the crank, placing his hands over Ryan’s to help turn it. He attempted to pull the crank, but he wasn’t at the right angle. Without thinking, he moved to position himself behind Ryan, his hands reaching around the blond and settling back on the crank. This time when they pulled it there was some give and soon enough, they had a rhythm going. Ryan’s back pressed into Chad’s front with each pull and Chad’s breath brushed Ryan’s neck with each push, but the boys ignored the sensations out of guilt and confusion.

Within a handful of seconds, the skylight was open fully, and Ryan ducked under Chad’s arm to stand in the middle of the room and look up. His face lit up almost instantly as he saw the stars starting to twinkle. There weren’t that many yet, the last dregs of sunlight still slicing their way through the sky, but the ones that were visible were bright. Chad stood beside Ryan and looked up too, but he decided quietly to himself that the stars in the sky didn’t shine nearly as much as the ones in the blond’s eyes.

“Do you know any constellations?” Chad asked quietly.

“No, I wish I did though.”

“Yeah.” They each let out a breath of laughter but settled back into a comfortable silence quickly. Ryan sat down again, stretching his legs out in front of him and leaning back on his hands. Chad awkwardly stayed standing until Ryan reached up and wrapped slender fingers around his wrist, tugging gently and encouraging him to sit down. Chad did, and quietly lamented when Ryan’s fingers slipped away. But when Chad also leant back, their hands were so close together that all it took was a twitch and Chad’s finger was gently interlocked with Ryan’s. Chad held his breath and continued looking at the stars like he didn’t even notice what had happened. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ryan glance at him, but the blond didn’t move his hand away.

After fifteen minutes of ignoring what was happening and just looking at the slowly darkening sky, music started to play from the other side of the yard. Someone called out their names, and they both sighed before standing up and making their way back down the ladder.

Kelsi had finally finished composing a new song and was playing it for the rest of the gang. There were no lyrics just yet, but that didn’t stop Chad’s friends from jamming to it. Even Zeke and Jason were trying to dance along.

Sharpay pulled Ryan into the midst of the dancing as soon as they were close enough to be seen and the twins quickly jumped into one of their thousands of routines. Chad smiled wide at the sight but at the confused look he got from Zeke he quickly hid it with a yawn.

“Chad!” Taylor’s voice cut across the music, her hand cold in his as she pulled him away from the group a little bit. “My mother is expecting me home soon, and you’re my ride.”

Chad nodded his head, sad that he had to leave his friends so soon but thankful that it gave him the escape he so desperately wanted earlier in the evening. He waved goodbye to everyone as Taylor went around hugging them individually and thanking Troy for having her over. Chad suppressed the urge to roll his eyes at how formal Taylor was even around friends, and instead settled them on the blond boy his girlfriend was hugging. As Ryan wrapped his arms around Taylor, he stared right at Chad. He looked thoughtful, but not unhappy, and Chad smiled softly at him as a goodbye. Before Ryan could respond, verbally or otherwise, Taylor had pulled away and Sharpay was dragging him back into the fray.

~~~~

“What do you mean you’re leaving?” Kelsi’s uncharacteristic screech made everyone stop what they were doing and stare. The young composer was staring at Gabriella with her mouth hanging open, her mind racing with all the revisions she’d have to do for the musical.

Chad slowly made his way over with Taylor, Zeke, and Troy as Ryan hurriedly got Martha to continue the warm-ups so he could join them in the orchestra pit.

“I’m going to Stanford early. But I’ll be back for prom and graduation!” Gabriella tried to make the situation better, but it was no use.

Kelsi had clearly stopped worrying about the musical long enough for it to click that her friend was leaving, tears springing to her eyes as she pulled Gabby into a hug. Troy looked sad but had clearly spoken about this with his girlfriend already as he stood to the side to let everyone else have their moments. Taylor was also standing to the side, much to Chad’s surprise, but like Kelsi her eyes were shining with unshed tears. Taylor was a sentimental person at heart, but it was on rare occasions like this that she actually showed it; having to do the last show without her best friend – when said best friend was the reason that she was in the show in the first place – must have been hard for her.

Chad was upset, obviously; his friend, his best friend’s girlfriend, was leaving, that was something to be sad about. But he was more hurt that Troy hadn’t told him beforehand. It was Gabriella’s thing to tell, he understood, but he and Troy were brothers – they told each other everything, even the things they swore they wouldn’t. The closer they were getting to the end of high school; it seemed the closer they were getting to the end of them. Even after the fun they had in the junkyard the other day, it still felt like they were growing further and further apart.

Chad was thrown out of his thoughts by Ryan groaning beside him. His head whipped around at the noise – his body unsure what to make of it and his mind resolutely ignoring that fact. Ryan had splayed himself across the piano, unable to refrain from the drama of the moment. Everyone raised an eyebrow at him as Sharpay hurried over to find out what was going on.

“I have to rethink all the choreography.” He flung an arm over his face, burying his eyes in the crook of his elbow and letting out a very fake sob. Gabriella giggled at his antics apologised with a watery smile. He sat up on his elbows, his hat falling off his head and landing at Chad’s feet. “It’s okay, as long as you’re definitely going to be here for graduation.”

Everyone scrambled to get verbal confirmation that she wouldn’t miss graduation. Sharpay clicked as to what was going on and started drilling people (namely, Troy, Kelsi, and Ryan) about who was going to be the new Gabriella in the show. Gabby moved over to Taylor and started talking about Stanford in a familial way that told Chad that Taylor _also_ already knew. He wasn’t close to Gabriella, almost hated her when they first met, but it hurt that the two people closest to him didn’t think to tell him this news.

He moved to return to the stage and nearly tripped over something at his feet. He looked down and was almost blinded by the light bouncing off a sequin. He scooped up Ryan’s hat and huffed a laugh at how outlandish it was this time before a hint of recognition echoed in his mind. The hat was white with blue stripes. It was the one that Ryan wore when they were playing baseball, he’s sure of it, except the blue stripes now had shoddily hand-sewn sequins on them. He knew that the dust from the diamond was notoriously hard to get out of clothes, so a quick look at the edges of the cap confirmed that it was indeed the same hat from the summer. Something about Ryan embellishing on it – as if it were important enough for more attention – made Chad’s insides squirm.

“Ryan?” Everyone stopped talking to look at Chad when he said the blond’s name. He stepped forward slightly as Ryan turned to look at him. “I think you dropped this?”

Ryan’s eyes landed on the cap and he smiled. They didn’t break eye contact as he gently took it from Chad’s hands and placed it back on his head, slightly askew. Chad smiled back. He wanted to make a comment about the sequins but before he could Sharpay had pulled her brother back into conversation and the moment was over.

~~~~

“You see, you got it!” Ryan said with a proud smile.

“You’re easier to dance with than she is.” Troy complained quietly before Sharpay jumped in and took over.

“Okay, from the top!” Chad made his way over as Ryan walked Troy and Sharpay through the dance one more time.

As they went around the world, a loud creak echoed through the auditorium and Zeke shouted for people to move out the way. Sharpay screamed as the set piece fell down, jumping into Troy’s arms for protection despite being a good distance away from the danger zone. Without thinking, Chad lurched forward and pulled Ryan close, away from the falling façade. He wrapped the blond in his arms, not unlike Sharpay was forcing Troy to hold her. Luckily, everyone was too distracted by the potential death-trap to notice the two boys tangled together.

“Alright everyone.” Mrs Darbus said, walking to centre stage – the cup of tea in her hand unusually steady for what just happened. “Let’s just, take five, alright?”

Chad let go of Ryan as everyone got moving again. Zeke glanced over as he and Jason started to lift the set again, but Chad didn’t notice.

“You didn’t need to do that; I was nowhere near it.” Ryan said quietly but not ungrateful.

“Well, better to be safe than sorry.” Chad shrugged, hoping his worry wasn’t too obvious. “Can’t have our choreographer being hurt now, can we?”

Ryan smiled and went to reply when Taylor appeared beside them. The blond stepped to the side as Taylor started to talk about prom arrangements. Chad attempted to keep up but was too distracted by Ryan’s deflating shoulders.

“Hey, Ryan!” Chad cut Taylor off as the boy in question started walking away. Ryan spun around slowly and glanced at Taylor’s annoyed expression before focusing on Chad. He raised an eyebrow to prompt Chad to continue, “Do you, uh, wanna hang later?”

“What, play some hoops?” Ryan joked, pretending to dribble a basketball.

Chad smirked, “Or baseball.”

Ryan’s cheeks flushed slightly. “Or you could help me with a new routine?” he said hopefully but not expectantly.

“We’ll see.” Chad laughed, refraining from winking, because why on Earth would he wink!?

Ryan grinned but walked away without another word. Chad stared after him, forgetting about Taylor who was still stood beside him until she cleared her throat.

“So,” she started, forcing him to pay attention to her by the tone of her voice alone, “I’ll be wearing purple. You need to match me somehow, but I don’t expect a fully purple suit – even Ryan wouldn’t wear something _that_ outlandish. You’ll pick me up at…”

Chad listened half-heartedly, taking note of what his girlfriend was saying but not really caring about it. He didn’t know what was wrong with him lately. He used to find Taylor so adorable and charming but now she was just… irritating. Their relationship felt less like a high school romance and more like a prequel to an unhappy married life. He shuddered internally at the thought, then cursed himself for not wanting a future with his girlfriend.

Taylor had finished speaking with an expectant look on her face. Chad reassured her that he would match his tie and wouldn’t be late to pick her up, then turned to leave.

“Um, forgetting something?” Taylor asked, trying to sound teasing but sort of coming across as bossy. Chad looked at her confused, so she took matter into her own hands and leaned up to press her lips against his. He kissed back, because that’s what a good boyfriend does, but all he could think was _her lips are so cold_.

~~~~

Ryan aimed for the basket again, actually getting it in this time. He jumped up and down in glee, before frowning when the ball bounced back up and hit him in the leg.

“Sport is dangerous.” He said, sitting next to Chad on the gravel of the latter’s driveway.

“Yeah, well,” Chad said, handing Ryan a bottle of water, “not so much if you know what you’re doing.”

Ryan gasped in mock offense and playfully shoved Chad, who stood up and effortlessly scored. He sat back down as Ryan scoffed and muttered something about _unfair_ and _practice_ and _large hands_. A comfortable silence fell over them for a few minutes before Chad spoke up again.

“Taylor is really obsessed with prom. It’s exhausting.” Chad didn’t know why he said it, just that he needed someone to know. Ryan shrugged.

“She is on the prom committee. And the yearbook committee. And the graduation committee. Why is she on so many committees?”

“College applications.” Chad said, though Ryan still looked confused. “The extra curriculars make her look good to colleges, they’re more likely to give her scholarships.”

“Oh.” Ryan said. He looked down at his hands nervously. “I’ve never had to worry about scholarships.”

Chad knew he didn’t say it to gloat but that didn’t quite stop the jealously that surged. He went quiet. Ryan realised that he had made things a bit uncomfortable, and so tried to keep the conversation going.

“But I’m still nervous about college. I don’t think that changes no matter how much money someone has.”

“Can we not talk about college, please? It’s all Troy ever wants to talk about nowadays – college or Gabriella, especially since she went off to college early. And if Taylor isn’t talking about prom she’s talking about our future.”

“You say ‘our’ like it’s a bad thing.” Ryan said, trying to hide the hope in his voice.

“What? It’s not.” Chad replied far too quickly. He took a deep breath, held it, then let it out in a slow whistle. “Sometimes I think it’s fine; that lots of people have blips in relationships and they come out of it on the other side and continue with their lives happy and in love. God knows it’s happened to Troy and Gabby enough. But… this feels like more than a blip. And I don’t want it to be over. I’ve really liked the time I’ve had with her.”

“Past tense.” Ryan said, louder than he intended to. Chad looked up at him questioningly, so he continued, “You said you ‘liked’ it, past tense. Do you still enjoy being with her?”

Chad thought back to rehearsals when he moaned about Taylor interrupting his conversation with Ryan. He remembered the party when he purposefully did not sit near her simply because he didn’t want to. He thought of earlier that day, when he barely listened to what she was saying because he was thinking about how the afternoon with Ryan was going to go.

But then, he thought about sitting on the swings at the party after the big game. How they held hands and spoke about anything and everything. He thought about the kiss he received after providing the yearbook with some of their best material – thank you, Rocketman – and what the kiss almost led to for the first time later that night. He thought about how nervous he felt when he asked her to prom and how he thought he was going to pass out from relief when she said yes.

Chad smiled. “Yeah. More often than not. But the ‘nots’ are just… so loud.”

Ryan nodded his head, not surprised at the answer but quietly disappointed in himself for hoping for a different one. Still, he tried to be a good friend. “Well, maybe it is just a blip then. You’re probably just stressed about finals.”

“Or the show.”

“The show? You don’t care about that, why would you be stressed about it?”

“What?” Chad asked, incredulous. “What makes you think I don’t care?”

“You literally said you didn’t care about it at the first rehearsal.” Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“That was then. This is now. I care now. I hate that I do, but I do.” Chad shrugged, then to lighten the mood he poked Ryan in the side and said: “I saved our choreographer from certain death, didn’t I?”

Ryan squirmed away with an embarrassed laugh. Chad still pursued him though, and soon enough the blond was being chased around the driveway. Ryan tried to fake right like Chad had taught him to earlier, but the basketball player anticipated the move and grabbed Ryan around the waist from behind. He pulled the blond in, laughing, and spun the two of them around in victory.

~~~~

“Okay, what colour is her dress?” Ryan asked, scrolling on the laptop he brought over to Troy’s house. He was looking at some sort of prom site, at the flowers that girls wear on their wrists. Chad had no idea, but he was sat next to Ryan at the kitchen island anyway, trying to look interested.

“Uh. Red?” Jason looked to Zeke for help from the other side of Ryan, but the baker just shrugged and continued moving cookies onto the cooling rack. Chad reached out to take one, his mouth watering at the smells filling up the Bolton’s kitchen, and earned a slap on the back of his hand via spatula for his efforts. “I’m pretty sure it’s red.”

Ryan shook his head with a bemused smile, adding a beautiful red rose corsage to the basket. The screen showed a preview of what was in the basket and Chad noticed there was already an item in there.

“Who’s the pink one for?” Chad asked, leaning over into Ryan’s space to get a better look at the screen.

“It’s peach, and Kelsi.” Ryan replied. “Her dress has peach embellishments.”

“You’re, uh, you’re going to prom with Kelsi?” Troy asked, halting in his own attempt to steal a cookie. Ryan nodded his head, unbothered by all the attention suddenly on him but nevertheless squaring his shoulders at what he knew was coming. “I thought you…”

“You thought I was gay?” Ryan asked icily, causing Troy to wince a little bit. Zeke and Jason looked between the two with bated breath. Chad sat back in his seat, feeling a bit sick.

“Yeah, man. Sorry.” Troy shrugged, hoping the conversation was over. Chad was going to find an excuse to leave when he noticed Ryan smirking.

“You’d be right.” The blond shrugged. “I’m gay. We’re going as friends.”

The tension in the room slowly dissipated as Troy realised that Ryan’s demeanour had been a farce – just a friend pulling another friend’s leg – and he quickly recovered.

“Oh! That’s – that’s cool. So, Gabby is wearing white but there’s black flowers on her dress so what do I match the flower thing to?”

Chad noticed Ryan’s shoulders relax little by little as the boys carried on looking for corsages for the girls. His own shoulders, however, were so tight he was thanking the heavens that basketball season was over, or he just knew he wouldn’t be making any baskets for the next week or so. Chad’s hands were shaking slightly, so he discreetly curled them into fists, but then his legs started to jiggle – trying to get the anxiety he was feeling out of his system somehow. Just as he was about to excuse himself to the toilet to calm down, Ryan’s own leg nudged his. Almost instantly, the basketball player stopped moving, instead focusing on the warmth of the blond’s leg pressing up against his own. Chad took a deep breath, and nudged Ryan back.

~~~~

Taylor grabbed his hand as they walked out of last homeroom. She held tightly, guiding him to the auditorium like he was unable to make his own way there. He huffed, annoyed at Taylor for being so subtly controlling and even more so at himself for being annoyed about it in the first place. It wasn’t a big deal, and like he said to Ryan a week or so ago – he liked being with her. He just didn’t understand why everything she was doing was getting on his nerves.

Just the other day, Taylor had been trying to help him with some science homework and while in the year before he would have found her so captivating as she explained the process of the experiment they had done in class, Chad just found it irritating. He felt dumb, and insulted, and like he wanted to be anywhere but there with his girlfriend who just wanted to help him.

And yet, moments that were almost identical but with other people didn’t bother him at all. Like when they we’re practicing his first number of the show and Chad kept messing up the choreography. Ryan had pulled him to the side and worked with him for almost an hour, talking through the steps and restarting the music every time something wasn’t quite right. Chad should have been so frustrated that he wasn’t getting it, that yet again there was someone else better than him at something, but instead he felt happy and relaxed; even upset when Ryan declared him ready to dance with the group again, so their one-to-one practice was over.

It made no sense. Why was it that he could take instruction from Ryan, no problem, but as soon as it was Taylor, he found himself bothered? Chad was getting sick of not wanting to be around his girlfriend.

Chad pulled his hand out of Taylor’s grasp as they entered the auditorium. He wandered over to the orchestra pit where Kelsi and Ryan were talking, not noticing how Taylor ended up sitting by herself while everyone waited for Mrs Darbus to turn up.

“Chad,” Ryan turned to him as he approached, stepping up on the tips of his toes so he could lean across the piano, closer to the basketball player, “will you _please_ tell Kelsi that orange and blue are not a good combination?”

“Uh, Kelsi, orange and blue aren’t a good combo.” Chad said with a questioning smile at the young composer. She shook her head with a smile and an eye roll.

“What about the Mets?” She said, raising her eyebrow.

“Ah, yeah she’s got you there, Ry.” Chad laughed. Kelsi’s other eyebrow rose to meet its pair at the affectionate nickname and smile Chad gave her best friend. She knew Sharpay called Ryan that all the time, but the one time _she_ did he had levelled her with a _look_ that said if she ever tried it again, he would not be happy.

“Ugh, it’s always baseball with you.” Ryan said with a mock pout.

“Can’t deny the charm of the game.” Chad said, leaning in across the piano without even realising it. “Even you have a pretty good swing.”

“Oh, how could I forget about that?” Ryan laughed with a smile that said he most certainly had not forgotten. Kelsi looked between the two with confusion, and excitement, and a weird feeling of not-belonging. It felt like she was watching something she shouldn’t, something forbidden. “Anyway, that's not important-”

“But it was important, wasn’t it?” Chad motioned to the blue and white hat that sat atop Ryan’s head with a smirk. The blond reached up to it gently, almost self-consciously, and blushed.

Kelsi definitely felt like she shouldn’t be watching this. She cleared her throat, about to interrupt whatever the hell it was that was going on, when Taylor called from her seat in the audience.

“Chad? My mother actually needs me home, could you drive me please?”

Chad’s shoulders sagged, and he lowered his head muttering something under his breath before standing up straight and saying, “I’m busy.”

Kelsi sucked in a sharp breath at his tone, and her heart broke a bit at Taylor’s when she said, “You’d be back well before rehearsals are over, it’s just ten minutes down the road-”

“Then walk.” Chad said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Seriously Taylor, I’m not your chauffer.”

“No,” Taylor said, finally walking over so that they weren’t talking across the echoing auditorium. “But you are my boyfriend.”

Kelsi saw Ryan press his lips together and step away with a sigh as Taylor interrupted the conversation; she needed to have a word with her best friend about messing with other people’s relationships. She pulled together some sheet music to work on, trying to give Chad and Taylor the illusion of privacy, but still kept an ear on their conversation. They were her friends, after all, if they needed her to step in and help then she wanted to be well informed. Right? That’s totally why she was listening.

“Yeah, I know.” Chad said, though he didn’t sound happy about it. “Sorry, Tay, it’s just…”

The basketball player trailed off, causing Taylor to huff and raise an eyebrow.

“Never mind. I’m sorry. Let’s go.” Chad picked up his bag and the basketball he had actually put down to talk to Ryan and Kelsi.

“Are you not coming back?” Kelsi asked before she realised that doing so made it obvious that she was listening to the conversation. She motioned to Chad’s bag when the basketball player looked at her questioningly. “I can watch that for you. It’s not like I ever leave this spot.”

Chad let out a small laugh, a bit of the tension he had been feeling expelling from his body with it. He dropped his bag and his ball by Kelsi’s feet and jogged up the aisle to catch up with Taylor.

Around half an hour later Chad came back to find Ryan lying across the piano, singing through a song with Kelsi and throwing the basketball up in the air. He was in a much happier mood than he was when he left; clearly, he and Taylor had settled things on the drive.

He grabbed the ball out of the air when it came back down, intercepting Ryan’s own attempt at catching it. The blond looked up at Chad with a sheepish grin but didn’t stop singing. Chad hopped up onto the piano, his hip against Ryan’s shoulder, and put the basketball in his lap.

“Chad, you wanna shoot some hoops later?” Jason asked from where he was helping Zeke move a set piece across the stage.

“Can’t.” Chad said simply, he turned back to a singing Ryan with a grin, nodding his head and tapping against the basketball in time to Kelsi’s music.

~~~~

The next morning Chad was happily humming along to the radio as he drove Taylor and himself to school. The windows were rolled down, the dry New Mexico heat floating through the car and settling on their skin. He looked over at Taylor and smiled at how concentrated she looked; it was quite cute. He turned back to the road, thinking of all the happy memories he had created and would create in his car. He’d worked so hard for it, had to endure Sharpay for a whole summer and the biggest falling out he’d ever had with Troy, but now it was his, and he was over the moon. He reached out a hand and turned the radio up, letting the sound of a random pop song wash over him. Almost immediately Taylor turned it back down. The air in the car suddenly became stifling, and Chad wondered what he had done wrong. The radio was so quiet now it was almost silent. Did she just not like the song? Is it the car itself? She never seemed to take issue with it before but-

“Are you cheating on me?”

Chad did a double take, “Excuse me?”

“Are you cheating on me?” Taylor repeated, enunciating each word.

“No! Of course not!” His hands tightened around the wheel at the accusation. So much for happy memories.

“Are you sure about that? You’ve been really distant lately and you’re hanging out with Ryan all the time. I was under the impression that you didn’t like him.”

“I am _not_ cheating on you!” Chad raised his voice, his breathing fast, “And definitely not with _Ryan Evans_. Seriously, Tay, of all people?”

“Well, you’re constantly around him and _not_ me, so what was I supposed to think?”

“We’ve been friends since the baseball game over summer, you know that! And that’s all he is: just a friend. He’s nice to be around because he isn’t constantly going on about basketball or maths equations that I don’t understand. He’s a… a distraction, that’s all.”

“A distraction? Chad, _I’m_ meant to be the distraction from basketball. Y’know, your girlfriend? And I’m sorry about the maths stuff but if you had told me you know I would have been more careful about it. We need an open channel of communication.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ll do better. But, Tay, really? You thought I was cheating on you with Ryan?”

“I’m sorry for accusing you of that. I can see now how ridiculous that was – honestly, you with a boy? I should have had more sense!”

“Well-” Chad cut himself off before he said something he was going to regret, and Taylor didn’t even notice he had started to speak. She squeezed his hand over the gear stick and turned the radio back up, conversation over. Chad felt sick.

~~~~

“Taylor thought I was cheating on her.” Chad shocked even himself as he truthfully told his friends what had been getting him down during morning practice. They didn’t _need_ to practice anymore, the season was over, but it was a good way to stay in shape and keep in touch – being in the same classes wasn’t always enough.

“Yo, what? You would never! Who with? Is it Bethany?” Zeke and Jason bombarded him with questions.

“Who’s Bethany?” Chad asked, but quickly decided he didn’t care. “Anyway, yeah she accused me of cheating because I wasn’t spending time with her or something.”

“Oh yeah, cause you’re hanging out with Ryan all the time, right?” Jason asked, not realising how the atmosphere in the room suddenly changed. “What, did she think he was your beard or something?”

“Dude, what?” Zeke looked at Jason like his friend had grown another head.

“His beard. Like, Chad was pretending to hang out with Ryan when really he was off with some girl.”

“I don’t think that’s what a beard is, dude.” Zeke shook his head, amused. “Besides, Taylor thought he was cheating _with_ Ryan, right Chad?”

Chad froze where he was putting his stuff back in his locker, grateful that they couldn’t see him flinch. He was saved from answering by Jason’s idiot mouth.

“Why would she think that? Chad’s not gay.”

“You can like both.” Chad said without thinking.

“Yeah, but you don’t.” Troy finally spoke up from where he was watching the exchange from the bench. Chad scoffed internally at Troy acting like he cares about anything but the situation with Gabriella but decided that now wasn’t the time to argue about that; they were all stressed out about something.

Chad closed his locker and spun around, ready to get the hell out of the locker room, “Yeah, no, of course not.” He said quickly, making just as fast an exit. His friends put his behaviour down to him still being worked up over Taylor accusing him of cheating and didn’t question it further.

~~~~

Chad was totally and utterly screwed. Why on earth would his girlfriend think he was cheating on her? And with Ryan, of all people? Just because he prefers to be around Ryan than her right now doesn’t mean that he’d prefer to _date_ Ryan, or even kiss Ryan. Because Chad has certainly never thought about kissing Ryan. Ever.

Not over the summer, when they were playing the staff baseball game. Tensions were running high; Ryan was wearing all white and somehow managing to keep it clean, Chad felt threatened because how _dare_ a theatre kid play sport, and to top it off Ryan was _good_ at baseball. He didn’t want to kiss the blond when he noticed how he had perfect form, pitching with a precision Chad hadn’t seen since watching the MLB games the previous summer. He certainly didn’t want to kiss him when they were in the changing room freshening up and Ryan had mentioned the staff tradition of captains wearing the uniform of the other team in solidarity after a game. No, Chad didn’t want to kiss him at all, not even when Ryan stood just a few inches away and slowly placed his striped cap on Chad’s head whispering that he needed it to complete the look.

Not up in the treehouse, about six weeks ago now, when Ryan made fun of his and Troy’s childhood interior design choices. Nor when he was wrapped around the blond, breathing hard and moving in tandem to get the skylight open. Definitely not when they sat back and looked at the stars like in every cheesy high school rom-com, fingers gently interlocking with a trepidation that could only come from unexplored, terrifying, potential.

And most certainly, Chad didn’t think about kissing Ryan yesterday, when the blond had looked up at him from where he was sprawled across the piano with that sheepish cheeky grin after being caught playing with Chad’s precious basketball. He didn’t want to lean down and capture Ryan’s lips with his own – Spiderman-style. He didn’t want to hear the blond gasp in shock, push back with just as much want, then surrender himself completely to the basketball player’s mouth. He definitely didn’t wish that the auditorium were empty, so he could have done all of that and maybe more.

No, Chad Danforth did _not_ want to kiss Ryan Evans. Not even a little bit. Right?

~~~~

Gym was getting boring. Since agreeing to do the show, however reluctantly that was, he decided to drop baseball from his summer term. It gave him more energy to get through Ryan’s complicated dance numbers, as well as freeing up his time after school for rehearsals and hanging out with friends – events that conveniently coincided. However, it also meant that he had to run laps with the rest of his class for an hour a day rather than practising out of the diamond or claiming he was resting for the game that weekend – an excuse that worked far too many times.

While Troy and Jason and the rest of the team had determined that the only way to get through the hour was to race each other instead of running aimlessly in circles, Zeke hung back with Chad at a leisurely pace. They were both exhausted from the show rehearsals, more so than Troy – who was somewhat used to it – and Jason – who for some reason had an abundance of energy despite the fact that around this time in the previous year he was falling asleep in lessons.

“So, I finally asked Sharpay to prom.” Zeke said after they’d settled at a medium-paced jog. Chad let out a whistle.

“Leaving it a bit late, weren’t you? It’s in like,” Chad squinted up at the sky, trying to remember what the date was, “three weeks? A month?”

“Who knows,” Zeke shrugged, “If you told me it was last night, I’d probably believe you. I’m so tired man.”

“Oh, man, me too. Ryan said that dancing was a sport, but I never would have believed him if we weren’t doing the show.” Chad shook his head with a small laugh. “Sometimes I think he makes the moves harder just to mess with me.”

Zeke looked over at his friend curiously, “You sure are hanging out with him more, man. It’s weird to see you not constantly surrounded by other basketball players. It’s all I’ve known for four years; why the sudden change?” He knew it wasn’t the right thing to say as soon as Chad’s shoulders became tense and his pace picked up a bit.

“I haven’t changed.” Chad said shortly. “I can have guy friends outside of the team, it doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“I didn’t say it had to mean something, man.” Zeke said, noting how Chad sounded like he was repeating a mantra more so than answering a question. “Dude, you okay?”

Chad stopped running so suddenly that it took a few steps for Zeke to even realise, and a few more to stop himself. They were a few feet away from each other when Zeke turned around. Chad was stood with his hands hanging loosely by his sides, his shoulders slumped but tight, and his face stony.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Man, I don’t know, you just seem really jumpy lately. You only seem happy when you’re with-” Zeke cut himself off with a sigh, knowing that he’d just be starting an argument if he continued. Chad pretended not to hear him, also not wanting to have an argument with his friend but mainly not wanting to face the conversation in the first place.

Zeke was about to change the topic when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, and saw Kelsi, Martha, and Ryan walking by the track field. The three of them were deep in conversation about something – probably the show – when Ryan looked up suddenly, almost like he knew he was being watched. But instead of looking at Zeke, Ryan’s gaze settled on Chad and a small smile blossomed across his face. Zeke glanced at Chad and realised that he had also been looking at Ryan. He was about to carry on down the track when Chad blatantly looked away from Ryan without reacting and kept running. Zeke looked between his retreating friend and Ryan with a questioning look, but the blond just shrugged and returned to his conversation with the girls. Zeke ran to catch up with Chad and they finished their laps in silence, at a much more intense pace than before.

~~~~

“Taylor, what do you think of this?” Chad asked, holding up a black bowler hat with a feather tucked into the band. Taylor spun around, thinking he had found the confetti she’d been looking for. She was exceptionally stressed out; not only had the prom committee forgotten about confetti and balloons – two of the most important parts of the night – but the T.J.Maxx they were in had decided to spread their items all over the store with no rhyme or reason to the layout. She was pretty sure they had bath bombs over by the confectionary, a lawsuit just waiting to happen if you asked her.

“That doesn’t match your suit.” She says, instead of what she really wanted to say which was something along the lines of _oh my god Chad can you just stop messing around for one second and do what I asked you please!_ Because she’d been trying so hard not to talk down to him since their conversation about communication.

“Not for me, for Ryan.” Chad was so focused on deducing whether the hat would be a good choice for the blond, that he didn’t notice how Taylor’s breath hitched and she clenched and unclenched her hands. She didn’t understand; she was trying so hard to be better, to be nicer, and yet her boyfriend still only wanted to talk about someone else. She took a deep breath.

“I think his suit for prom is a creamy beige,” she said, taking any conversation she could with Chad, “but his tie is black so, I guess it would match.”

Chad nodded his head, taking a double take at the shelf as he did so. “Hey, are these the sort of balloons you want?” He said, lifting up the packet with his other hand.

Taylor could have cried with the relief she felt when she saw the balloons were white and gold _without_ writing on them. She squealed, in a very Gabriella-like way, and flung her arms around Chad’s middle. She’d been trying to be more affectionate with him since their conversation too – they used to kiss an awful lot but lately Chad had seemed distracted, barely even holding her hand between classes.

Chad laughed and placed the balloons inside the bowler hat, so he remembered to purchase both. Taylor took the win, then continued looking for confetti.

~~~~

Prom was just around the corner and Chad wasn’t prepared in the slightest. Okay, that wasn’t true. He had a beautiful date, the ideal suit, and his car was working perfectly fine (knock on wood). He was all set. Apart from the fact that they actually had to waltz at this thing. Or, at least, that’s what Taylor said. And usually, what Taylor says goes.

**14:39 – u need 2 help me**

_14:39 – I’m in science, I need to focus._

**14:39 – Ry u don’t understand I need help**

_14:41 – With what?_

**14:41 – dance - not 4 the show**

_14:41 – WHAT?? Is this really happening?_

**14:42 – Yes. I need 2 learn how 2 walts 4 prom.**

_14:42 – Waltz. You want me to teach you how to waltz?_

**14:43 – I NEED u to.**

_14:51 – Auditorium after school. If you head straight there, we’ll have a good 20mins before anyone arrives for rehearsals._

The auditorium was unnerving when empty. Chad’s footsteps echoed across the stage and made his skin crawl. The houselights were on, and the main spotlight had been kept on from when the tech crew were running through it at lunch. A brief thought flitted through Chad’s mind, and it sounded eerily like Sharpay complaining about high school students not knowing proper theatre etiquette. He shuddered.

“Cold?” Ryan’s voice made Chad jump, dropping his basketball into the orchestra pit. He laughed awkwardly at the fumbling movement and threw his bag down after the ball.

“The ghost of your sister is haunting me.” Chad said with another small shudder.

“Shar isn’t dead.” Ryan tilted his head to the side, confused. Chad chuckled and stepped over to Ryan where he stood centre stage.

“So, how are we doing this?” Chad was suddenly nervous. Why was he nervous? He was just learning to waltz from a close friend that gave him butterflies and shaky hands and breathless smiles, what’s the big deal?

“I’ve always found the best way to start a dance lesson is by dancing.” Ryan said with a smirk. He stepped forward confidently so that he and Chad were a suitable distance from each other to start the dance. “I’m assuming you want to lead?”

“That would probably be a good idea.” Chad said quietly, not wanting to speak too loudly when they were standing so close.

“Okay so just-” Ryan cut himself off, thinking hard about how he was going to do this. “You don’t know dance terms.”

“I do not.” Chad shook his head, his hair bouncing. “Is that a problem?”

“Uh, no. No, it shouldn’t be. Just- just follow my lead. But also… be the lead?”

“Would it be easier if you were the lead?” Chad asked. Ryan shook his head, muttering something under his breath just quiet enough that Chad couldn’t hear. He grabbed at Chad’s hands and showed him how to position them in silence. Chad did as he was told – or rather, not told – and soon enough they were standing with their chests almost touching.

“Um.” Ryan’s brain short circuited a bit but he shook himself out of it quickly. “So, normally you’d look at your partner the whole time, but that’s more for performance reasons than anything else so if you need to look at your feet for now that’s fine.”

“Right.” Chad breathed out the word, his brain not quite catching up as fast as Ryan’s.

“Just, move with me, I guess? I’ll lead for the first few boxes then you can take over if you’re comfortable?”

“Boxes?” Chad’s mouth hung open in confusion, and Ryan scrunched up his nose trying not to laugh. Chad had never noticed that he did that before. It was cute. In a totally platonic, friendly, sort of way. Yeah.

Ryan started to move, the lack of music not bothering him at all. Chad stumbled along with him for a few steps, almost crushing the blond’s toes once or twice, before picking it up with relative ease. Chad was too busy looking at his feet to see Ryan’s satisfied smirk at the fact that the basketball player had such a natural talent for dance. The blond couldn’t help but think back to the baseball game from the summer; Chad being so adamant that he didn’t dance and Ryan being so adamant that he could. It was nice to be proven right. The smirk slowly shifted to a soft smile as Chad started to look away from his feet as he grew more confident.

Soon enough Ryan was moving them around the whole stage instead of just a small section of it. They were gliding across the stage as if they had done it a million times before. It felt as natural as waking up in the morning, as a flower budding in spring, as winning the championship basketball game with only sixteen minutes left. Chad’s eyes found Ryan’s easily and with a small nod of acknowledgement Chad took the lead. It was shaky at first, but just as quickly as he picked up the dance in the first place, he was guiding Ryan across the stage as if he had been doing it his whole life.

Eventually they slowed it down, coming to a stop centre stage once more. Their faces were close together and they were breathing heavily. Ryan smiled and Chad’s gaze immediately fell on the blond’s lips. He swallowed; his mouth was suddenly dry. Chad’s thoughts were racing, and he was becoming more and more terrified by them by the second. He pulled back harshly, images of soft smiles and softer hands floating through his mind. Said hands were still gripping his own tightly, but when Ryan squeezed Chad’s in what he thought was a comforting gesture Chad ripped his away.

“What’s happening here Chad?” Ryan looked distraught and he spoke so quietly that Chad could have easily pretended not to have heard him. The blond was slowly turning pale, and his hands had started to shake violently, but he stood his ground, wanting an answer to the question that had been plaguing his mind for weeks.

“I… I don’t know.” Chad said, shaking his head. He moved to sit on the edge of the stage, his feet dangling into the orchestra pit.

“Then figure it out.” Ryan said, upset that he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the basketball player. He was just about to turn away, exit stage right and maybe go and throw up in the toilets, when he heard a small sob come from the boy downstage.

“ _How?_ ” Chad sounded so confused, so distressed, that Ryan couldn’t help but walk over and sit beside him. He took Chad’s hand in his again and squeezed tightly. This time, Chad squeezed back.

“However you want, in whatever way you feel comfortable. There’s no pressure, Chad, and you have no obligation to do anything but what you want to-” Ryan could have kept talking, could have kept on encouraging Chad and helping him through his crisis, but his lips were suddenly otherwise engaged.

Chad had turned his head, placed his right hand – the one not holding the hand of the boy next to him – on the side of Ryan’s face, and brought their lips together. He had thought about this too many times to count, had tried to push the image out of his head to no avail, and yet the moment itself was unimaginable. The kiss started as just a press of the lips, Chad too scared to do anything more and Ryan too shocked to react. But slowly, the two boys moved against one another, pulling apart just long enough for a small gasp of air before diving back in. Chad felt electric. His whole body felt like it was sparking with excitement, joy, nerves. His hands trembled with the need to _touch_ but he refrained from doing more than a gentle caress of Ryan’s cheek, a strong squeeze of their still joined hands. Ryan’s other hand came up and gripped at Chad’s neck, anchoring them to the spot – not that they wanted to go anywhere else anyway. After a couple of frantic minutes, the kissing slowed down, and the boys pressed their foreheads together as they tried to catch their breath.

“I think I’ve figured some things out.” Chad whispered. Before Ryan could react, the doors to the auditorium opened and the rest of the cast filtered in. The two boys pulled away from each other quickly as soon as they heard the first squeak of the doors. By the time that the first person noticed either of them were there, they were already on opposite sides of the stage looking like they were busy with other things.

~~~~

The next day was unusually busy, and Chad didn’t see Ryan again until the blond walked into the gym where he and Zeke were throwing a basketball back and forth. He hovered awkwardly near the edge of the bleachers, waving at them when they noticed he was there. Chad said something to Zeke, who nodded and patted him on the back before jogging out of the room through the opposite doors with a quick ‘hi-bye’ to Ryan. Chad made his way over to the blond.

“We should probably talk about what happened.” Ryan’s voice was quiet but strong. He wasn’t going to let Chad run away from this, but he wasn’t about to scare him off. Chad sat down on the bench and downed a bottle of water. He sighed heavily and leant forward, his elbows digging into his knees.

“Yeah.” But he didn’t know how.

“Should-” Ryan sat down next to him on the bench, close enough to touch but far enough that it wouldn’t raise eyebrows if someone walked in, “should I go first? Say what’s on my mind? Would that help?”

Chad shrugged, then nodded his head, then put said head in his hands. He wasn’t very good at this.

“I’ve wanted this for a very long time.” Ryan said with a shuddering breath. Chad smiled to himself but didn’t look up. “I would love it if we could pursue this, even if it only lasts a week – at least we gave it a shot, you know? But I know you’re not out, and with scouts still making their minds up you probably won’t be coming out for quite some time. I don’t mind being with you in secret. Which sounds ridiculous but if that’s the only way I can have you then I’ll take it.”

Chad was almost crying. He felt incredibly overwhelmed and was quite possibly not breathing. He sat back and opened his mouth to say something, but Ryan continued.

“I’m not going to force you to tell anyone, it’s completely up to you,” Ryan reached out and took Chad’s hand gently in his, “but you need to say it out loud. Now or later, but at some point, before this goes any further, you need to be honest with yourself Chad – actually come to terms with it.”

Chad nodded his head, the tears that were threatening to spill before now slowly making their way down his cheeks. He tried to speak but his voice caught. He cleared his throat, eliciting a wince from Ryan at the thought of his poor vocal cords, then voiced what he had been fearing for so long.

“I think… I think I’m bisexual.” Chad said through a watery smile. “No. I _know_. I’m bisexual.”

“Okay.” Ryan said quietly, nodding his head with a small smile on his face. He squeezed Chad’s hand. “Okay. I’m proud of you.”

“I really want to kiss you again.” Chad whispered in a rush. Ryan kept nodding, so Chad did just that. The kiss was quick – cut off by the bell signalling the end of the day – but, man, if it didn’t make them both weak at the knees. The two boys parted with soft smiles before exiting the gym together.

Out in the hallway they tried to keep together, talking about their plans for the weekend, but within a couple of seconds Chad had been pulled away by the team and Ryan’s ear was commandeered by Sharpay’s shrieking tones. Chad looked over at the blond as Taylor tucked herself under his arm, replacing the ever-present basketball with a sour look on her face. Ryan – who had also been staring at Chad from his place next to Sharpay – quickly looked away, causing Chad to frown slightly. The basketball team ushered Chad out of the school as Ryan’s stomach became lead and one thought raced through his mind – _he’d forgotten all about Taylor._

~~~~

“Can we meet up later, talk about stuff?” Ryan’s voice sounded tinny through the speaker on Chad’s phone. Chad was sat at his desk, procrastinating doing his homework by spinning around on his chair; the phone call was a welcomed reprieve for his dizzy brain but certainly didn’t help him complete his homework any faster. Chad nodded his head, then realised Ryan couldn’t see him.

“Yeah, of course.” He looked at the English essay he was meant to be writing, weighing up his options. “We can meet now if you want?”

“I’m at Lava Springs.” Ryan sighed. “I’m meant to be coming home tonight though so-”

“Nah, it’s cool, I can drive up there – it’s only thirty minutes.” Chad picked up his phone and took Ryan off speaker. “Besides, there’d be more privacy there, right?”

“Sharpay’s here… but I’m sure I could convince her she needs a seaweed facial or something. Maybe even a mud bath – keep her out of our way for sure. I really need to talk to you.”

“Is everything okay?” Chad asked, mildly scared about the answer. He lowered his voice so that if someone were to walk past his room, they wouldn’t be able to hear him. “You’re not second-guessing things, are you?”

“No, not really, I just – it’s… it’s important, so... But no.”

Chad let out a shaky breath, “I’ll leave right now.”

~~~~

Lava Springs was exactly as Chad remembered it, despite it being the off-season. Well, pre-season. There were a few rich parents lounging around, getting the first rays of the summer before their children finished school and took over the resort. Chad’s car looked extremely out of place in the car park. Ryan told him to park in the guest lot, and next to all the Maseratis, Lamborghinis, and Ferraris, his un-identifiable make was pitiful.

As Chad wandered the halls of the resort looking for the Evans’ wing, he almost got into trouble about four times. Not only did he try to use the service corridors like last summer, but he also walked into two very important-looking meetings. Luckily neither of the meetings had Ryan’s parents in them or he could have been kicked off the premises – something that certainly would have hindered the plans he and the blond had to talk.

He was anxious about what exactly it was Ryan wanted to talk about, but he kept reassuring himself that Ryan wasn’t going anywhere. There was only so much reassurance he could take though before he stopped believing himself. He was a nervous wreck by the time he found the Evans’ wing of the resort and would have turned right back around and left again if it weren’t for the door opening as soon as he knocked.

“Hurry!” Chad barely had time to see that it was Ryan who opened the door before he was being manhandled through a freakishly long hallway and into another room.

The door closed with a gentle click behind them and Chad turned to see Ryan leaning with his forehead against the door.

“Sharpay’s still in her room – she decided to have the seaweed facial in the comfort of her own bed. Translation: she wants to keep an eye on me for some reason.” Ryan said with an exasperated sigh.

Chad hummed in agreement with the non-verbal statement and stepped forward, placing his hands upon Ryan’s hips. The blond jumped but leant back into Chad, his head landing softly on Chad’s shoulder. Ryan’s eyes were closed but a look that Chad couldn’t describe flitted across his face and he stood up straight so that he wasn’t being supported by a door or a person.

“Wait, so, I want to talk about Tay- _what_ are you wearing?” Ryan changed the course of his sentence as he turned around and finally looked at Chad. The basketball player looked down at himself, confused, what was wrong with what he was wearing? A simple muscle tee and some jeans, isn’t that a normal outfit?

“Uh, clothes?” Chad replied, not sure if he was about to be torn apart for his poor fashion choices.

“Barely!” Ryan said, now obviously flustered. His hands flailed awkwardly in the little space between them. “That vest is barely scrap material and those jeans might as well be painted on; I didn’t even realise you had pants that weren’t basketball shorts.”

Chad flushed in understanding, smirked, then scowled at the last statement, “I wear jeans like every day.”

“I don’t believe you.” Ryan said with a stubborn shake of his head.

“I really do.” Chad nodded, smiling, and stepping a little bit further into Ryan’s space. “I thought that would be the sort of thing you’d notice.”

“Why, because I’m gay? Bit of a stereotype there, Chad.” Ryan said with a sarcastic eyeroll.

“No, because of the crush you’ve had on me for, what was it, ‘a really long time’?” Chad smirked.

“You’re one to talk.” Ryan scoffed, poking Chad in the chest then resting his hand there, over the basketball player’s heart which was beating far too fast. “You noticed I had added sequins to a hat I hadn’t worn in _months_.”

“Yeah, I did.” Chad said, then finally closed the gap between them.

Ryan let out what Chad could only call a small moan as their lips collided. All the feelings they had been holding back when they kissed before at school were suddenly fighting to be heard and the kiss only grew more and more passionate with every movement. Ryan reached back and locked his door so that Sharpay wouldn’t burst in on them, then pushed Chad further into the room. Chad stumbled back until his legs hit the edge of Ryan’s bed. They fell onto it with a huff of laughter, their lips barely parting. Chad felt like he should remind Ryan that he had driven there to talk, but he was enjoying this so much more.

~~~~

“Hey.” Chad smiled at Ryan as he walked into the empty homeroom classroom. The blond was sat in his usual seat, his sister unusually absent from the seat in front of him. Chad raised his eyebrow at the empty desk, but Ryan just shrugged. The twins hadn’t been hanging around each other all that much lately, what with Ryan working on the show with Kelsi and Sharpay doing whatever it was that Sharpay does. “You wanna hang later?”

“Sure,” Ryan said, but wouldn’t look him in the eyes. Chad dumped his bag on his seat and made his way over to Ryan’s desk. He hopped up onto in, holding his basketball in his lap. Ryan sat back in his seat and stared up at Chad.

“What’s up?” Chad asked, genuinely concerned. He reached out a hand and picked a bit of fluff out of Ryan’s hair. “No hat today?”

Ryan shrugged again, a small sigh escaping him as Chad let his hand linger for a second. But just as quickly as Ryan started to relax under Chad’s touch, he jerked away and looked around the room with worried eyes.

“No one’s here yet, Ry. Don’t worry.” Chad said quietly, sensing that Ryan was a little on edge. “Seriously, no hat?”

“It’s in my locker; I just wanted today to be quiet.” Ryan said with a small shrug. Chad nodded his head, trying to understand how Ryan’s brain worked. The blond sighed again, “Look, Chad, I really want to talk about Tay-”

Before Ryan could finish the door to homeroom swung open and Troy and the rest of the basketball team came pouring in. None of them seemed to take notice of the two boys sat together but that didn’t stop Chad from practically launching himself off Ryan’s desk and over to his own.

Ryan deflated a little in his seat. He leant forward on his desk, propping his head up with one hand. For the whole of homeroom, he stared off into the distance; even Sharpay’s shrill voice talking about the musical didn’t stir his thoughts nor did Kelsi slipping him a small note asking if he was okay.

Chad noticed how down Ryan was, but didn’t know how to help. He wanted to hug him – like how Troy would hug Gabby – but he knew that wasn’t possible, especially with Taylor in the same room. Maybe at lunch he could find a way to get them alone so he could work out what was going on. Chad hoped it wasn’t his fault.

~~~~

“Ryan, can we talk?” Chad asked hurriedly as they passed each other between lessons. He had wrapped a hand around Ryan’s arm, but the blond slipped out of the grip easily.

“I have to see Mrs Darbus about something, can’t be late” Ryan said, attempting to walk right by Chad.

“Tonight?” Chad knew he sounded desperate, but he really wanted to know what was wrong.

“I –” Ryan looked up and down the hallway, noted how the warning bell had already rung and there were barely any students left. He sighed. “Yeah, we do need to talk, so… I’ll text you my address.”

And with that Ryan fled down the hall. Chad stared after him with his mouth hanging open slightly – something was definitely off.

~~~~

The Evans residence was huge.

Chad was expecting this, and it’s not like he was poor or anything, but the size of Ryan’s house was really a sight to behold. It was one of those old colonial style houses with the huge pillars that stand two storeys tall, with red bricks and white sliding and white windows and a massive white door.

Ryan opened said door with a flourish, standing awkwardly in the large foyer as Chad stepped into the house. Ryan didn’t know what to do with his hands. He hadn’t had anyone over in…well, ever. If he and Kelsi hung out outside of school, it was always at hers or a public place. They never came over here because they just _knew_ Sharpay wouldn’t leave them alone. But Sharpay wasn’t home right now, she had decided to go to the spa, so it was just him and Chad.

“Do your parents prefer no shoes?” Chad asked, trying to be polite and stay on the Evans’ good side. Not to mention the house seemed so clean Chad was scared to even breathe in case he messed up something. It looked like a show room.

“My parents aren’t home” Ryan said with a furrowed brow. Chad’s question confused him, until he remembered that not everyone’s parents abandon their children for world travel. “Oh, right. Uh, it doesn’t matter. Dorinda will just clean up any mess, so.”

“I always forget just how rich you guys are.” Chad said with a bemused smile and a shake of his head. He toed off his shoes, no point in making Dorinda’s life any harder.

“Sorry, I try not to be snobby or spoiled but –”

“No, Ryan, I’m not saying it’s a bad thing!” Chad cut him off. He stepped forward and took Ryan’s hands in his. “It’s just strange. But also, kind of cute in an even stranger way.”

Ryan flushed, and tried to stammer out a sentence to no avail. Forgetting the reason that he was at the house in the first place, Chad let a cheeky grin explode across his face.

“So… you say your parents aren’t home, huh?” He didn’t think it was humanly possible to turn the shade of red that Ryan achieved, but any concerns for the blond’s health were pushed out of Chad’s mind as Ryan pulled him upstairs.

~~~~

The next day at school was weird. Knowing what he and Ryan had done last night, Chad felt simultaneously on cloud nine and like he deserved to be in the deepest pits of hell.

Ryan didn’t look much better. When Chad walked into homeroom that morning, the blond’s face was almost grey, and his hat lay forgotten on his desk. Chad tried to catch his eye, hoping for a little reassurance, but was met with a blank stare – like Ryan didn’t even register it was Chad he was looking at.

Chad sat down at his own desk gently. He placed his basketball on his desk and leant against it, exhausted and confused. He was jolted suddenly when Troy hit the basketball out from under him as he sat down.

“What’s up man?” His best friend asked, finally paying attention to someone that wasn’t himself or Gabby for once. Chad scoffed quietly, told him it was nothing and went to pick up the ball from where it had conveniently rolled over to Ryan.

“Hey,” he whispered as he got closer, “after school, can we talk?”

Ryan didn’t react.

As Chad made his way back over to his desk, he was intercepted by Mrs Darbus confiscating the ball yet again. Zeke made the usual joke about Chad not having any balls, causing most of the class to laugh. Jason turned to Taylor, ready to make the conversation a billion times more awkward, but she levelled him with a look that shut him up before he even opened his mouth. As Chad sat down again his phone pinged, causing a groan to ripple throughout the class. He managed to get a glimpse of the message before Mrs Darbus confiscated his phone as well, handing him a detention in the process.

**08:34 – I have the auditorium booked. Give me a while to actually practise like I planned, then come by. Should be done around 6.**

~~~~

“That’s a jazz square, right?” Chad asked from the back of the stage. Ryan spun around to face him with a slight jump, not having heard him come in. He looked impressed that Chad knew anything other than his left from his right. “I do pay attention when you teach us things, y’know. Not just staring at your ass all the time.”

Chad couldn’t help but tease Ryan, even when he felt so horrible about everything. It was a like second nature now, to try and make Ryan as red as possible before the blond caved to the thoughts running through both of their heads.

Chad stepped closer to Ryan, momentarily forgetting why he was there and instead just thinking about his lips and his hands and his _everything_. Chad was so whipped. He reached out and grabbed at Ryan’s hips, a small gasp escaping the blond as their lips were brought closer. Then without warning:

“No!” Ryan practically shouted the word, stepping back and holding his hands out so Chad had to stay away from him. The basketball player faltered; hurt and confused. “Stay there. Every time I have tried to have this conversation with you, we end up making out – or more – and it’s making me feel awful.”

Chad felt sick. He knew this would happen. He got bored of Taylor and now Ryan was bored of him; it’s karma. He was expecting it, he just wished it hadn’t happened so quickly.

Ryan noticed how Chad’s whole demeaner changed so suddenly and sucked in a gasp when he realised how the basketball player had taken his words. “Oh! Oh, no, no, no. Chad, no. I’m not – it’s not you that’s awful or making me feel that way- it’s me. It’s all me. It’s – well, actually, it’s Taylor.”

“Taylor?” Chad croaked out. His throat was dry, but his brain was catching up with what Ryan was saying. His eyes widened. “What about Taylor? Does she know?”

“No, she doesn’t know. That’s the whole point.” Ryan sat down on the edge of the stage, not unlike how Chad did just before their first kiss. Chad sat down next to him, thankful that the set had been changed the previous day so that they weren’t having the conversation on a fake version of Gabriella’s balcony – he knew his life was becoming dramatic, but he didn’t need Troy-and-Gabby-level drama.

“I’m confused.” Chad said. Ryan looked at him out the corner of his eye, sighed, then turned so that one leg was resting flat on the stage while the other remained dangling in the orchestra pit. Chad mirrored his position so that they were facing each other properly.

“You’re cheating on her, Chad.” Ryan said in a quiet voice. Chad closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. It’s not like he didn’t know, but hearing it said out loud – especially after the conversation he and Taylor had the other week – made it so much more real. Ryan continued, glad to finally be talking about it. “You’re cheating on her, _with me_ , and I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel. She’s a friend so I don’t want to see her get hurt but… but I – I really, _really_ like you, Chad, and I don’t want _this_ ,” He grabbed Chad’s hands and squeezed tightly, “to stop. Like, ever.”

Chad squeezed back and opened his eyes. “I don’t know what to do, Ry.”

“You have to tell her.” Chad started to pull back at the words, but Ryan held on tighter. “No, Chad, please. You don’t have to say you cheated, you don’t need to come out, you don’t even need to say there’s someone else, but she needs to know that the relationship is over. It…it _is_ over, right?”

Chad shrugged, “I guess.”

“You guess?” Ryan asked sceptically. “What does that mean?”

“I haven’t thought about my relationship with Taylor as a _relationship_ in about three weeks, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about her. I don’t want to hurt her, Ry, and I can’t lie to her – she sees right through me.”

“When she asked what you did last night, what did you tell her?” Ryan asked with a slight bite.

“I said I played video games – which I did.” Chad said defensively.

“Yeah, you did. In my room. After we had _sex_.”

“Ryan-”

“Chad, _please_. I cannot keep going on like this, it’s tearing me apart.”

“What about me? It’s my relationship, Ryan, if I want to ruin it I can.” Chad ripped his hands out of the blond’s, jumped down into the pit, and started to walk up one of the aisles.

“You don’t mean that-” Ryan said, still sitting on the stage.

“Yes, I do!” Chad stopped walking and turned around. He was breathing heavily, scared of losing Ryan but even more terrified of what could happen if he and Taylor split. “You told me that you didn’t mind us being a secret. That if that were the only way you could have me then you’d take it. Was that a lie? Because Taylor being by my side and _not_ knowing, that’s the only way I can go through with this, Ryan. I can’t lose my scholarships, and I absolutely cannot lose you.”

Ryan pushed himself off of the stage, landing gracefully in the orchestra pit. He hurried over to Chad who was now crying, sitting on the edge of one of the chair’s armrests. Ryan stepped in between Chad’s legs and wrapped his arms him. Chad buried his head into Ryan’s stomach to muffle his sobs.

“It’s terrifying, I know that.” Ryan said quietly. “But, Chad, you don’t want to hurt her. And that’s all this will do. The longer this goes on for, the more hurt she’ll be when she does find out.”

Chad shook his head, still crying too much to speak. He was so sick of crying; it was all he seemed to be doing for the past two months. The auditorium was making his sobs echo and he had never been more thankful that Ryan was trusted enough to stay there after hours to practice; nobody else was around to hear his pitiful cries.

Eventually, around ten minutes later, Chad had calmed down enough to stand. He steadied himself on Ryan’s shoulders and looked into his eyes. The sparkle was gone. It made Chad’s stomach turn and he gently placed his hands on either side of the blond’s face. He needed to bring that sparkle back.

“I’ll tell her.” He placed a delicate kiss on Ryan’s forehead and felt the blond sigh beneath him. “I promise, I’ll tell her.”

~~~~

Chad was overwhelmingly aware of the fact that Taylor had been by his side practically all day and yet he hadn’t talked to her yet. Well, he had talked to her, they’ve had plenty of conversations about prom – which was apparently next week – but he hadn’t _talked_ to her. Not about what he was supposed to.

They were stood at Taylor’s locker, the hallway empty apart from the two of them, and Chad could hear his pulse racing through his ears. It was now or never, he knew that.

“Tay-”

“Would you like to come to dinner tonight?” Taylor asked, not hearing Chad start a sentence of his own. She was rummaging around in her locker, organising her books for the next day and looking for her graduation committee folder.

“I-” Chad cut himself off as a door opened down the hall. He briefly looked up and caught sight of a purple velvet hat before the door closed again. “I’m busy.”

He wasn’t busy. At all. In fact, he specifically made sure that he had no plans that evening so that he could finally have the _conversation_ with Taylor. Taylor, who just sighed and closed her locker with a bang.

“Seriously, Chad?” Taylor asked, clearly fed up with him. “You can’t do this to me, my mother will start asking questions eventually and you know I can’t lie to her. You don’t want to seem like a bad boyfriend, do you?”

Chad shrugged, “Sorry. I have plans already.”

“Of course, you do.” Taylor sighed. The door down the hall opened again. “Let me guess, with-”

“Hi Taylor.” Ryan called from his place a little further down the hall. He was walking over to them with a slight spring in his step, but his voice and his facial expression gave away how cautious he was feeling.

“Ryan.” Taylor said, not unkindly but certainly not happy to see him. She gave one last disappointed look to Chad then walked in the opposite direction to where Ryan had come from, exiting the school.

“Are we good?” Ryan asked, standing in the spot Taylor had just vacated with hope lacing his tone. Chad’s stomach sunk to the Earth’s core. He smiled at Ryan, hoping that a nonverbal response meant he could plead ignorance when Ryan realised that he hadn’t spoken to Taylor about them.

Ryan faltered a bit, clearly sceptical that Chad had had the conversation, but seemed to berate himself at the lack of trust and instead reached out a hand and squeezed Chad’s own with one of the biggest grins the basketball player had ever seen.

Chad was seriously fucked.

~~~~

_Well, nobody’s perfect._

Chad felt the light vibrato of Ryan’s laugh before he heard it. They were curled up on Ryan’s bed, Chad lying with his head on the blond’s chest, having just finished watching _Some Like it Hot_. Ryan had made a reference to it and when Chad failed to understand that reference, he was subjected to sitting through all one-hundred-and-twenty-one minutes of it. He didn’t mind too much though; the film was entertaining, and it meant he could be close to Ryan. But Chad did have other things on his mind.

"So," Chad cleared his throat, "Taylor..."

Ryan's hand paused where it was playing with Chad's hair. Chad felt the blond tense beneath him, so he sat up to face him properly. Ryan's hand fell to the bed with a thump; he knew it was too good to be true, Chad hadn’t spoken to her.

Chad took a deep breath, "I chickened out. I can't... I can't break up with her. Not yet."

"Then we can't keep doing this, Chad.” Ryan ran a hand down his face. “We shouldn’t have done anything at all. You need to tell her. I don't even care if you guys pretend to date so it doesn't raise suspicion for you, but she needs to know."

“How can she know without _knowing_ , though? I'm not ready to tell anyone, much less someone who will probably tell her best friend who will then tell _my_ best friend. And even if she could keep it a secret, Taylor would never in a million years _pretend_ to keep dating me."

Ryan swallowed with a click, "I don't know what to say, Chad. I feel like we’re talking in circles."

The basketball player flopped back down on the bed, throwing an arm over his face, and groaned. He didn’t want to cry, he’d been doing that so much lately, but his throat felt tight, and his eyes ached, and he felt so, _so_ , overwhelmed.

“I want to be with you, Ryan. I want us to work out. I want there to be an _us_ in the first place, but if I break up with Taylor people will want to know why. I asked her to prom not that long ago; you don’t think people will ask questions? I can’t come out yet, I’m not ready-”

“I don’t want to force you to come out.” Ryan tried to speak but Chad kept going.

“-there’s too much pressure from scouts and I don’t know how the team would react. I don’t know how my parents would react – this will change my whole life and I’m not ready for that. I don’t – I don’t know if – if I can-” Chad started to stumble over his words, his breathing becoming erratic.

“Chad! Chad, calm down!” Ryan placed a hand on Chad’s wrist, pulling his arm away so he could see his face. Tears were still threatening to spill, making Chad’s eyes sparkle in that heartbreakingly beautiful way tears do. Ryan pulled him up into a hug and held tight. “I’m sorry. I know how hard this can be, I’m so sorry.”

“Please don’t leave me.” Chad’s voice cracked, and the tears finally broke free and started to soak Ryan’s shirt from where Chad’s face was pressed into it.

“I won’t.” Ryan whispered, running his hands through Chad’s hair to try and help soothe him. “God, Chad, I won’t.”

Chad went home around two hours later, after crying some more and being reassured that Ryan wasn’t going anywhere. He felt awful, for so many reasons, but he kept going. What else was there to do?

~~~~

**18:46 – Come over, the guys are here**

18:46 – Really?

**18:46 – Yeah, course.**

“Stop messaging Taylor man, this is guys night!” Troy said, whacking the back of Chad’s head with a pillow. Chad grabbed said pillow and threw it back at his best friend, missing spectacularly due to being distracted by his phone pinging again.

18:50 – OMW I guess.

“Why do you think I’m messaging Taylor?” Chad asked, pocketing his phone with a smile.

“You’ve got a stupid dopey girlfriend-grin on your face.” Zeke said from the beanbag in the corner. “Troy recognises it because he sees it in the mirror all the time.”

The pillow hit Zeke square in the face.

The guys had decided that they needed a night to just chill. No talk of rehearsals or exams or graduation, and certainly no talk of prom. They were all getting sick to death of prom. So, they’d congregated at Chad’s place; his parents being the most relaxed about hanging out on a school night. They’d played a few rounds of basketball in the driveway but eventually they made their way upstairs to Chad’s bedroom. Zeke commandeered the beanbag in the corner while Troy spread across the bed. Jason had somehow ended up sat on top of Chad’s dresser while Chad himself was on the floor at the foot of his bed, surrounded by snacks. Each of them had a game controller in their hands and were attempting to kill some zombies. Though, Chad kept dying because he was on his phone.

Chad tried not to think too much about the fact that it wasn’t Taylor he was grinning about and refocused on the game. After being killed another five times – three of which were friendly fire, thank you Jason – Chad disconnected his controller and sat back and watched. Troy was also dying an awful lot, clearly his mind was elsewhere.

Soon enough the doorbell rang, and before Chad had a chance to even react the voice of his mother carried up the stairs.

“Oh, hello dear! I love that hat, is it a new one?” They couldn’t hear the reply and Chad’s mother must have lowered her voice to match that of the other person because the rest of the conversation went unheard.

“Yo, who is that?” Troy asked, tapping Chad on the shoulder.

“It’s-”

“They’re in Chad’s room – you know the way darling!” Chad’s mother’s voice followed the sound of footsteps on the stairs. Chad didn’t reply to Troy, the person that appeared in the doorway was answer enough.

Ryan’s hat _was_ new, Chad noted, a pastel yellow newsboy cap with pink stitching. It reminded Chad of Sharpay and he repressed a shudder. Instead, he looked at Ryan with a smile, wishing beyond anything else that he could get up and hug him, pull him close, show him off in front of his friends. But he couldn’t. Chad’s longing for Ryan only increased when Ryan bit his lip nervously. Chad’s eyes followed the movement; Ryan had shelved kissing – and more – until Chad had spoken to Taylor, so Chad was feeling especially deprived of the affection he’d grown used to over the last month or so. Ignoring Chad’s intense stare, Ryan waved awkwardly at the others in the room.

“Dude, you’re blocking the zombies!” Jason practically shouted at Ryan, leaning around him as far as he could without falling off the dresser. Ryan quickly stepped out of the way and sat down on the floor near Chad. Zeke offered him a fist to bump but Ryan just sort of patted it awkwardly. Chad laughed. Jason died in the game; Zeke and Troy both too distracted by the new arrival to help him.

“You’ve met Mrs Danforth before, Ryan?” Troy asked, rolling over on the bed and looking at the blond upside down. “I didn’t even know you’d been over here.”

Chad’s heart stuttered a bit and Ryan hesitated slightly to answer, but both of them were saved by Zeke who said, “Ryan’s been helping Chad with the dancing for the show remember? Of course, he’s been over.”

Chad glanced at Zeke and noticed that his friend was staring intently at the back of Ryan’s head. Troy rolled back over and leant down to grab a bag of chips.

“Right, that makes sense, I guess.”

“I want pizza.” Jason said after a few minutes of silence. The rest of the boys nodded and hummed in agreement and Chad took out his phone to order. He stood up, rooting around for the menu he kept _somewhere_.

“Dude make sure they don’t put pineapple on it this time.” Troy said with a look of disgust on his face. Zeke quickly jumped to the defence of the topping, Ryan agreeing with him, while Jason clambered down off the dresser and joined Troy on the bed in an act of solidarity. Chad shook his head with a laugh and started to place the order.

“…yeah so that’s no pineapple. Yes. No. No _pineapple_. Oh and no mushrooms either! That’s an allergen. Okay. Thanks, man.” Chad threw his phone on top of the vacated dresser and flopped down on the floor, lying back, and spreading out like a starfish.

“None of us are allergic to mushrooms, man.” Troy said with a confused smirk, ready to make fun of Chad for messing up.

“Actually, I am.” Ryan said with a small smile, but he also looked confused.

Troy hummed in acknowledgment and turned back to Zeke to continue their debate. Jason started up another game on the console and Ryan pulled out his phone. Chad’s own phone pinged from the dresser and he got up to check it, expecting Taylor to be messaging him about prom again.

19:32 – I never told you that.

Chad looked up at Ryan, but the blond was pretending to be enthralled by the game Jason was losing at.

**19:32 – I’ve never seen u eat mushrooms and they were banned from Lava Springs. It was just a guess but, I put 2 and 2 together.**

19:33 – Huh. Well, you guessed correctly. Thanks.

“Chad, seriously, tell Taylor to leave you alone!” Troy threw another pillow at him. Chad chuckled awkwardly.

~~~~

Chad looked at his phone, sure that the connection was dodgy. “What do you mean you’re not coming?”

Troy’s voice came through, clear as day, “I mean, I’m in the car driving to Stanford right now. I’ll be back on Monday, man, but I need to see Gabby on prom night.”

“Troy, this was meant to be one of the last things we did together as a group – as friends, as brothers – you can’t be serious right now!”

“I’m sorry, man. I need to do this. I can’t lose her.”

Chad sighed. He ran a hand down his face. “And there’s no way you’d be able to bring her back here?”

“Not in time for tonight.” Troy said, though he didn’t sound sorry about it. “Look, man, I gotta go; this isn’t safe y’know? But I hope you have a good time tonight and tell Taylor I’m sorry if it ruins anything. I know she worked hard on it.”

Chad nodded, then remembered his best friend couldn’t see him because he was in _California_. He told Troy to be safe and have fun himself, then hung up before the anger could influence his words. He sat back in his seat, the humming of the car engine soothing him slightly. He shot off a quick text to Taylor saying he was about to leave but that Troy wasn’t coming. She replied with _hurry up_. He sent another text to Ryan, telling him that Troy was in California. Ryan replied with _I’m so sorry._

~~~~

The gym was unrecognisable; there was a tree on his court. A _tree_. The balloons he’d found at T.J. Maxx were dotted around the place, on the walls, on the ceiling, on the floor. Chad was early, of course, because Taylor had to be there before everyone else to put the finishing touches on things.

He’d managed to sneak a basketball into the room but before he could dribble it even once Taylor had appeared next to him and confiscated it. So instead, he sat at their designated table and watched, bored, as she flittered about rearranging napkins and pushing tables a few more inches away from the designated dance area. He would have offered to help her, but he knew he’d get in her way or do something wrong and the night would be ruined before it even began.

Eventually, more students started to trickle in. The music that had been softly playing from the speakers suddenly changed and got brighter, cheerier, as Rocketman took over the DJ booth from Taylor’s iPod. Chad distantly wondered why Kelsi wasn’t manning the booth, as she was the omniscient music guru of the school, but the thought quickly dissipated as the doors to the gym opened and the girl in question walked in.

Though, it wasn’t really Kelsi that Chad had seen. As beautiful as the young composer looked – which, she really was stunning – she didn’t compare in the slightest to the guy standing next to her.

Ryan’s suit was a gorgeous creamy light brown, almost beige. On anyone else it would have looked boring, unexceptional, but on Ryan, Chad thought he looked charming. Like he’d stepped right out of a story book. His tie was black with little white flowers that matched the boutonniere on his chest and the feather in his hat. His hat. The hat the Chad had picked out for him. Chad couldn’t believe Ryan actually wore it. He looked absolutely breath taking.

Chad squirmed in his seat slightly, suddenly remembering where he was. He looked around but nobody was paying him any mind; everyone was too focused on Ryan and Kelsi. He smiled to himself, pleased that Ryan was finally being recognised, but a bit of jealousy creeped up his spine when he saw the way some of the girls were looking at him. Which was _completely_ ridiculous because Ryan was very, very gay.

As that thought crossed his mind, Chad did another sweep of the gym to see if any of the guys were stealing secret glances but found no one to be making eyes at his man. Satisfied, though bewildered (seriously, what was he going to do if there were other guys looking?), Chad sat back in his seat. The slight change in angle alerted him to one set of eyes that were not trained on the two theatre aficionados though.

Chad nodded once in Zeke’s direction, hoping that it had just been a coincidence and that they’d looked over at each other at the same time. By the suspicious look on Zeke’s face, Chad’s hope was futile. Chad sunk down in his seat slightly as his friend made his way over, Jason and Martha in tow. They sat down at the table, Martha and Jason talking animatedly about some dance movie that was coming out soon. Zeke sat on Chad’s left.

“You alright man?” Chad asked after a couple of minutes of Zeke just staring at him. Jason looked over at the two and in a rare moment of perception he decided to leave the two alone to talk and asked Martha if she wanted to dance. Martha obviously said yes, and they rushed out onto the almost-deserted dance floor. More people joined in when they saw others dancing, and when Zeke didn’t reply Chad asked, “You don’t want to dance?”

“Sharpay’s not here yet.” Zeke replied shortly, like that was an answer.

“You didn’t arrive together?” Chad asked, hoping the conversation would become less stilted. This was Zeke, they’d been close friends since fifth grade, why was this conversation so awkward?

“She wanted to be fashionably late. I said I’d turn up with her, but she told me it was tacky. Girls, man, I don’t know.” Zeke shook his head with an exasperated smile. Chad just started to relax again when Zeke’s eyes zeroed in on him and he said, “You’re lucky you have someone like Taylor.”

Chad coughed, “Yeah, lucky.”

He tried to smile, honestly, he did, and when he thought about all the good times with Taylor over the past two years, he almost managed it. But he could see that creamy beige suit in the crowd of dancers, and his expression became more of a grimace. He may have been lucky to have Taylor, but Taylor had the worst luck to end up with him.

“Look, man,” Zeke said suddenly, leaning forward so that he didn’t have to shout over the music, “I don’t know what’s going on with you lately, but… I don’t even know what to say, really. Be careful, man. There’s a lot at stake for you.”

With that, Zeke stood up and joined their friends on the dance floor. Chad downed the glass of water that was on the table like it was a shot of something that could help numb his mind. It didn’t do the trick, obviously.

“Hey, Chad!” some cheerleader said as she sat down at their table about an hour later. He didn’t know her name, maybe it was the Bethany that Zeke and Jason had mentioned a few weeks back. She smiled at him, looking like she was expecting something, and Chad realised he’d totally missed what she had said.

“Sorry,” Chad said with a nervous laugh, “completely zoned out. What was that?”

“I said: where’s Troy? Not like him to miss a school event.” Maybe-Bethany looked genuinely curious as to where the star basketball player had disappeared to, but Chad still felt a surge of anger at her for bringing Troy up. Couldn’t he have just one night of fun? Even when he wasn’t here, Troy somehow made the night about him.

“Chad!” Someone called his name before he could go on yet another rant about his best friend (it would be his third of the evening; the first was at his mother, simply for asking how Troy’s suit fit after they had got it tailored, and the second was at Taylor on the car ride over because was lamenting about having two extra seats at their table). He could barely hear the person’s voice over the music, but as soon as a hand landed on his shoulder and the scent of warm vanilla washed over him, he knew exactly who was saving him from getting worked up.

Ryan sat down in Taylor’s seat, his hand still on Chad’s shoulder. Maybe-Bethany quickly lost interest in the conversation when she realised Chad’s attention had been taken from her, so she stood up and wandered back into the fray of dancing students.

“You good?” Ryan asked, squeezing Chad’s shoulder before finally letting go.

“I need to get out of here, man.” Chad sighed, leaning in conspiratorially. “It’s all ‘Troy’ this and ‘Troy’ that. And if strangers aren’t asking about Troy then it’s Taylor begging me to dance. I can’t do it.”

“You can dance.” Ryan said with a coy smile, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. Right, Taylor was still a majorly sore subject between them.

“That’s not what I meant. Anyway, I don’t like dancing with anyone else.” Chad went to reach out and place his hand over Ryan’s knee but jerkily aborted the movement when he remembered where they were. Ryan looked down with a sad smile. Chad sighed again, “Look, can we just leave?”

“You can’t leave.” Ryan replied immediately. He was prepared for this moment before everyone had even arrived tonight: Chad was going to try and get him to ditch prom with him, and Ryan absolutely could not say yes. It wouldn’t be fair to their dates, first of all, but if Chad still wanted their relationship to remain a secret then the second most popular guy in school could _not_ disappear at prom at the same time as the loud, gay, theatre kid.

“Just for a while.” Chad was practically begging. No, in fact, he _was_ begging. “Please? We don’t even have to leave the school – we can go to the auditorium or something.”

Ryan scoffed, “Yeah the auditorium will _not_ be empty.”

“What do you mean?”

“Every year for the past four years, the day after prom we would find a random sock or a t-shirt or even a used condom once, somewhere in that place. You are not taking me to the prom sex spot.”

“Sounds like it could be fun.” Chad said jokingly. Ryan let out a bark of laughter and pushed at one of Chad’s shoulders. The point of contact sizzled underneath Chad’s tux jacket.

“There’s always the roof.” Ryan said quietly, clearly thinking out loud.

“Isn’t that more of a Troy-and-Gabby thing?” Chad wrinkled his nose.

“Well, I would have said the gym but-” Ryan gestured around them and Chad huffed a laugh at the dramatics.

“Wait, are you actually considering ditching?” He asked, suddenly realising what Ryan was talking about.

“You’re clearly stressed.” Ryan shrugged. “I don’t know. If we do, it’ll be for twenty minutes, tops.”

“I could kiss you right now.” Chad said in a fast, hushed voice. He stared at Ryan’s lips.

“Yeah,” Ryan smiled sadly, his lips and his eyes not agreeing on a feeling, “but you won’t.”

Chad sat back. He’d considered it. He had considered telling Taylor just before they left, and then again as they were driving to the school, and once more after they’d arrived, just so he could hold Ryan and kiss Ryan and dance with Ryan at prom. But once more, he’d chickened out. He didn’t want to ruin the night for her after she had worked so hard to make it perfect. That seemed to be a theme with them: Chad didn’t want to upset Taylor or ruin something for Taylor and so he continued to upset Ryan and ruin things for himself. He was tired of it, but he didn’t know what else to do. At least he and Ryan still had some happier, softer moments.

“Ry,” Chad said quietly, “not tonight, please. Let’s just find somewhere quiet and empty and just be together for a bit.”

“Mrs Darbus doesn’t lock the door to homeroom.” Ryan said with a sigh.

“That sounds perfect.” Chad leant forward again, trying to catch Ryan’s eye from where it was glued to a spot on the floor. “I need to give my excuses, go on ahead of me.”

“Yeah, of course. Not like we could leave together anyway.” Ryan was bitter, and Chad couldn’t be angry about it. Instead, the basketball player just stood up, his hand brushing against Ryan’s arm as he left to find Taylor.

He found her by the DJ booth, where Rocketman was seemingly cleaning up a mess of astronomical proportions. Taylor had a look of murder on her face, and Chad was suddenly nervous about telling her (lying to her) that he was going to the toilet.

“Chad,” She said with a happy sigh as she saw him approach. It left a sick feeling in his stomach, “I can’t dance right now because _someone_ is being incompetent.”

Chad winced at the glare Taylor threw to Rocketman. He took a deep breath, “Actually I was just gonna let you know I’m going to the toilet.”

“Oh.” Taylor said, looking disappointed despite just telling him they couldn’t dance. “Okay. Don’t be too long, we’ll be announcing King and Queen soon.”

She kissed him on the cheek and turned back to Rocketman, berating him as he dropped everything he had just picked up. Chad stood there for a few seconds longer, not convinced he was free to go, but after he shook himself a bit, he made his way out of the gym. He passed maybe-Bethany on the way, and she gave him a look he couldn’t decipher.

Homeroom wasn’t that far from the gym, just a little way down the hall in fact, and so Chad arrived much quicker than he was prepared for. He felt like he needed a moment to compose himself after the noise of prom was sheltered by the doors and he was left wandering an empty corridor. He was surprised at just how empty it was, but then he thought back to how – if Troy had been there, if he were still in love with Taylor, if life were normal – he probably wouldn’t have wanted to leave the gym either. Taylor really had pulled off an amazing prom, it’s too bad that the three people she wanted to enjoy it most either weren’t there or didn’t want to be there (with her).

“Did Stefani see you on your way out?” Was the first thing out of Ryan’s mouth when Chad entered the classroom. He closed the door behind him with a confused look on his face, and Ryan sighed and explained, “the girl who was asking about Troy before I came over; did she see you?”

“Her name isn’t Bethany?” Chad asked, ignorant to the importance of the situation.

“Chad, please, I’m asking this for your sake. Did she see you?” Ryan looked on the verge of tears and Chad rushed to where the blond was sat on the edge of Darbus’ mini-stage.

“Um. I don’t – I don’t know, maybe? Why?” Chad asked in a stammering rush. He knew that maybe-Bethany-Stefani _had_ in fact seen him, but the way Ryan was acting he was scared to admit it.

“She saw me.”

“Well, that’s not so bad, we weren’t together it’s fine.” Chad pulled Ryan’s hands away from where he had buried his face in them. He held on tightly. “It’s okay, Ry.”

“No. No, it’s not okay. She-” Ryan cut himself off with a shudder. Chad nudged him, asking him to continue but not pressuring him to. “She stopped me, and she said some… some not very nice things.”

“Like what? About you?”

“And you.” Chad’s heart stuttered, his stomach turned to lead, and his brain short circuited.

“What do you mean?” He whispered.

Ryan made his voice an octave higher, “If you get your _queer_ on Chad Danforth, you know you’ll ruin his life, right? We don’t need predators like you trying to turn our star athletes into fairies.”

Chad’s blood boiled. He was seeing red. His skin itched all over and he was shaking. Every cliché thing he had ever read about anger was happening to him, and yet all he could do was sit there and hold tighter onto Ryan’s hands.

“I don’t think she knows. If she didn’t see you then it’s fine but-”

“Fine?!” Chad stood up suddenly, dropping Ryan’s hands and throwing his own in the air. “Ryan how is that ‘fine’? She can’t get away with saying that to you! To anyone! How are you so calm right now?”

Ryan shrugged, standing up slowly. “It’s not even the worst thing I’ve heard in this school, let alone life in general. I know that doesn’t make it okay, but you have to pick your battles wisely.”

“This seems like a pretty good battle to pick.” Chad moved to leave but Ryan grabbed his hands, forcing him to stay. Ryan stepped close, so that they were mere inches away.

“If you go out there and defend my honour or whatever,” Ryan started with an eyeroll, “then not only will you be admitting that we ditched prom together, but you could also accidently come out. Even if you don’t, the rumour-mill will pick it up and run wild with it. Think, Chad.”

Chad did. He almost felt it was worth it, though. Maybe-Bethany-Stefani had seen him, anyway.

He said as much and Ryan sighed, falling forward slightly so his head lay on Chad’s chest. Chad rested his chin on top of Ryan’s head and let go of his hands to wrap his arms around the blond. Ryan’s own arms came up and circled around Chad’s waist.

“I need you to know something.” Chad said quietly. Ryan tried to pull away so that he could look at Chad as he spoke, but Chad just squeezed tighter. He wanted to say this, but he couldn’t look at Ryan until he knew what the reaction was going to be. Chad was feeling more and more like a coward each day. “Ry. I- We haven’t been… we haven’t been together for very long. Barely over a month, officially, but I’ve liked you for ages. Way before I even knew.”

Chad paused, psyching himself up to continue, and Ryan took the opportunity to interrupt, “Chad, we’ve already spoken about this, I know. What are you saying?”

“Well. I think- I think I could- There’s the possibility that I-” Chad cut himself off again. He moved his hands to Ryan’s shoulders and pushed, breaking them apart slightly. Ryan looked very confused, but he had a glimmer of hope in his eyes that spurred Chad on. He moved his hands to either side of Ryan’s face and stared wistfully.

Ryan giggled, actually _giggled_ , “Chad, c’mon we literally do not have the time for your dramatics.”

“Oh, _my_ dramatics?” Chad asked with a smirk and incredulous eyebrows. Ryan’s reply was simply to turn his head slightly and kiss Chad’s hand. Chad melted a little bit more at that. “I love you, Ryan. Or at least, I’m falling in love with you.”

“What?” Ryan whispered, not quite believing it. “Are you sure?”

Chad laughed, “Yes. Yes. I’m sure. I don’t think I’ve ever been so sure of something in my life.”

“Not even playing basketball?” Ryan asked, still whispering.

Chad lowered his own volume to match, “Not even playing basketball.”

He’d barely finished his sentence before Ryan crashed their lips together. The kiss was unlike any of their kisses before. It wasn’t timid, simple, like their first kiss in the auditorium, nor was it as fiery and passionate as the kiss they shared before they slept together for the first time. There was passion, of course, but it was less physical this time. Their bodies still moved with each other in perfect harmony, but they each poured their whole hearts into this kiss in a way that they had been holding back from before. Chad thought that, if they carried on, he was likely to have a heart attack with how happy he was.

“Wait,” Chad said pulling away with an ecstatic laugh, “wait, do you- I mean, you don’t have to say, but are you-”

“Since the baseball game you idiot.” Ryan said, also laughing but now with his cheeks flushing bright red.

“Yeah, I know, that’s when you started to like me but-”

“No.” Ryan cut Chad off, getting redder and redder as he spoke. “I started to _like_ you the moment I set eyes on you in freshman year. You had a big goofy grin, and you were so _loud,_ and I hated how confident you were but all of that just completely and utterly swept me off my feet. I _fell_ _in love with you_ at the baseball game. As soon as you started dancing, actually.” Ryan finished with a nervous laugh.

Chad let out a bark of his own, muttered a “Why am I not surprised?”, and pulled their faces back together. Kissing was difficult when both of their mouths wanted to stay stretched in wide grins, so instead they pressed their foreheads together. Ryan placed his hands tenderly on Chad’s shoulders, felt the muscle stretch and pull gently as Chad moved his own arms around Ryan’s waist.

“This might be the only time you’ll ever hear me say this but: I wish there was music.” Chad whispered. Ryan hummed in agreement. He stepped impossibly closer and wrapped his arms around Chad’s shoulders, burying his head in the basketball player’s neck. Chad held tighter and began to sway slightly. “Having you teach me how to dance was the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Ryan hummed again, pressed his lips against Chad’s neck affectionately. Chad sighed happily and closed his eyes.

After what felt like both an eternity and no time at all, Chad opened his eyes and looked at the clock on the wall. They’d been there for almost half an hour, much longer than they had anticipated.

“We should get back.”

“Yeah, okay.” Ryan said, but neither of them made a move to leave. Chad watched as another minute ticked by then gently removed himself from Ryan’s arms. The blond looked so calm, almost sleepy, but shook himself a bit as they stepped away from each other.

“You go first,” Ryan said in a quiet voice, “They’ll be calling King and Queen any minute, and you won’t want to miss that.”

“What so I can watch as Troy’s name gets called and he’s not there to collect it?” Chad said, but there was no longer a bite to his words. Troy travelled across the states to be with Gabby on prom night; Chad escaped to a random classroom to be with Ryan. They were in different situations, but, in their hearts, they were the same. Ryan kissed Chad on the cheek in the same spot Taylor had earlier and gently pushed him out the door.

Troy was crowned King, and Rocketman fell off the stage trying to accept the crown on his behalf.

~~~~

Chad felt like he hadn’t had a proper lunch break since Christmas, with every spare moment of his time being taken up by rehearsals or Ryan or Taylor. So, when Troy grabbed him by the shoulder and guided him into the cafeteria for lunch on Monday, he wasn’t ashamed to admit he almost cried.

The rest of the gang were squeezed around one of the tables. They only sat eight people, so Jason and Zeke were sharing a seat, leaving two seats open for Troy and Chad. How the basketball players could fit on the small red plastic disc was beyond Chad, but he wasn’t about to ask for the details. The two empty seats were between Taylor and Ryan, and without thinking Chad sat down in the one beside the blond boy. Troy didn’t seem to notice, and so sat on the other available seat with no argument, much to Taylor’s dislike. The girl stared as her boyfriend didn’t even glance at her before jumping into conversation with Ryan.

Chad opened up the paper bag he brought from home – a habit he had got into when cafeteria visits became less frequent – and groaned as he saw that his hurriedly made sandwich had gone soggy from the tomato juices. Ryan nudged him under the table and looked at him with a puzzled expression, so Chad showed him the contents of the bag – the sight of which caused a small giggle to erupt from the blond. Chad mockingly glared at him, to which Ryan laughed harder. Chad proceeded to steal some of the fries off of Ryan’s plate, with Ryan half-heartedly swatting his hands away. They continued to share the plate of food and while Ryan nudged the tray so it sat between them and Chad didn’t have to reach over so much, that didn’t stop Chad from shuffling to the edge of his seat so he could sit closer to the blond, lean into his space without it being too noticeable.

“Chad, can I talk to you for a second?” Taylor asked suddenly and with a layer of sweetness that was too thick to be authentic. She didn’t wait for his answer before she stood up and walked over to the edge of the cafeteria. He looked around the table, but they seemed just as confused as he was, so he slowly made his way over to his girlfriend to find out what was going on. He was not expecting what she said.

“This is the last time I’m going to ask you this, because based on what I’m seeing a text message I got on prom night, I’m almost certain now that I know the answer. Are you cheating on me?”

“No!” Chad’s immediate response made Taylor raise an incredulous eyebrow. He caved far too quickly. “Okay, I- I am. I am, and I’m _so_ sorry, Taylor. But you have to believe me: I wasn’t when you first asked, I promise.”

“So, what, I planted the idea? I made this happen?” She asked, tears prickling her eyes.

“That’s not what I’m saying!” He said through gritted teeth, trying not to shout or maybe he was trying not to cry.

“And I’m right.” Taylor said matter-of-factly, though Chad didn’t know what she was on about. “About who it is; I’m right, aren’t I?” Tears were freely flowing down her face now, and a few of their friends looked over in concern but couldn’t hear their conversation.

“Taylor…” Chad didn’t know what to say, he couldn’t just _tell_ her. Her lip trembled.

“Jesus Christ, Chad! We’re you ever even going to tell me that you’re gay?”

“I’m not gay!” He said quickly, frustrated. She scoffed.

“Maybe you should let _Ryan_ know that. Really, Chad, stop lying to me and stop lying to yourself-”

“I’m bisexual!”

He said it too loudly. He knew he said it too loudly because suddenly there were over a hundred eyes on him, and the cafeteria had gone silent. He looked around with wide eyes, noticing how all of his friends had stood up to find out what was happening but now appeared frozen in time at Chad’s exclamation. Ryan was the first to break the stillness of the room by moving a hand to his mouth at Chad’s confession.

Chad looked at him, terrified. Before any of the student body could react though, Zeke shouted at the room to _get back to your lunches, there’s nothing to see here_ with a shaky but determined voice. Chad could have melted into the floor right then, but instead he turned to Taylor, who was staring at Ryan.

“Tay, don’t.” Chad pleaded with her, reaching out a hand that she easily slipped through as she walked back to their table. Chad took a deep breath before following her.

The table was quiet as the – Chad is now assuming – ex-couple sat back down. The rest of them quickly followed suit, with a bit of fumbling where the shared seat was concerned. Chad didn’t know what he expected, but somehow the hand that grabbed his under the cover of the table didn’t surprise him one bit. He squeezed Ryan’s hand tightly, maybe too tightly, and stared at the centre of the table without talking.

“So…” Zeke attempted to restart conversation but to no avail.

A few more awkward minutes passed, and some of the gang were about to pack up their things and leave when Taylor spoke up.

“Chad and I are no longer in a relationship.”

“Because he’s bisexual?” Jason asked, surprising everyone at the table. “That doesn’t seem right, Taylor.”

“No, not because he’s bisexual, though that would have been nice to know before we began the relationship.” Chad was pretty sure he heard Ryan mutter something about _obligations_ and _not being ready,_ but he didn’t have a chance to dwell on it for too long as Taylor continued, “We broke up because he cheated.”

Chad’s head shot up. He wasn’t expecting her to just _say that_. Everyone at the table turned to him in shock. Everyone, that is, except Taylor, Ryan, and surprisingly Zeke. He squeezed Ryan’s hand even tighter under the table and the blond winced slightly. Ryan moved his other hand on top of the vice grip to help ease it a bit and the movement caught their friends’ eyes.

“Oh my God.” The girls, sans Taylor, whispered simultaneously. Zeke started nodding his head; things were making much more sense now. Jason was confused, as always, but was quickly whispered a promise from Martha saying that she’d explain later. Troy looked shocked, more shocked than anyone else, and also hurt.

Chad’s stomach dropped as he looked at his best friend. He let go of Ryan’s hand, stood up so fast that he hit his knee on the table, and sped out of the cafeteria like the place was on fire. He heard Ryan and Zeke call after him, but he didn’t stop running until he reached the locker room where he promptly threw up in the shower.

~~~~

Chad had been avoiding everyone. Opening night was that night but he hadn’t been to the last week of rehearsals. He knew what he had to do, had gone over it enough times with Ryan that it would be ridiculous if he didn’t, but that didn’t excuse the fact that he had flaked out on them. At the end of the day, they were his friends.

Each of them had tried talking to him in the past week, including Taylor, but Chad often felt too guilty to listen and more often than not he walked away before the conversations ever really started.

Ryan messaged him the night of what Chad had not-so affectionately been calling Armageddon, saying that he’d give him as much space as he needed and that he was sorry. Chad cried for almost an hour because Ryan shouldn’t be sorry; Chad had brought this on himself. It was Chad who outed himself – Chad who had cheated.

His mom walked in on him after he had calmed down a bit, clearly having been waiting outside his door for the right moment. She pulled him into hug and he shakily told her that he and Taylor broke up. She shushed him, tried to lighten the mood with a _that’s a bit obvious honey_ , and to her credit she didn’t push him away in disgust when he told her in a small, terrified voice that he was bi. Instead, she squeezed tighter and Chad started crying all over again.

Kelsi had cornered him in the hallway the next morning. She had a pitying, but supportive, look on her face and was trying to tell him something, something that he could tell was important to her, but he muttered an excuse and ran off to the gym to blow off some steam.

Sharpay followed him around that afternoon, talking his ear off about God-knows-what. He knew she wasn’t happy from the tone of her voice, but he didn’t pay attention to the words she was saying. Even when she mentioned her brother’s name – the only thing to cut through the fog – instead of listening Chad ducked into the nearest toilet and proceeded to puke up his lunch. He’d never felt more awful.

Wednesday supplied its own set of problems when Zeke, Jason, and Troy ambushed him in the locker room after a ridiculously laid-back gym class in which Chad ran laps to avoid speaking to anyone.

“Why didn’t you tell us, man? Why didn’t you tell me?” Troy asked, the hurt in his voice impossible to ignore. Chad opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.

“Did you lie to us?” Jason asked quietly. “You said Ryan wasn’t your beard.”

“Dude,” Zeke hit Jason on the arm, “you seriously need to learn what that word means. If anything, Taylor was the beard.”

“I loved Taylor.” Chad said, though he knew that wasn’t entirely true – there was certainly an intense like, but it never developed into love, and by the look on his friends’ faces they knew that too. “She wasn’t my- I didn’t want to hurt- I’m sorry.”

Chad rushed out of the room, ignoring his friends calls for him to wait.

Thursday had Martha finding him sitting in his car during his free period. She stood and stared at him for about thirty seconds, while he resolutely did not look at her. Eventually she walked off, only to come back within five minutes with Taylor by her side.

Chad reached out to start his car so he could drive off, school be damned, but before he could even touch the key the passenger door opened, and his ex-girlfriend slipped in.

“I’m still angry. And hurt.” She said, “I’m so incredibly hurt, Chad.”

He dropped his head to the steering wheel, begging himself not to cry. He took a shuddering breath and turned his head slightly so he could look at her. She deserved that, at least.

“But I’m also sorry, for forcing you to come out like that. It was unkind of me, cruel even.”

“Not nearly as cruel as what I put you through.” He said hoarsely. “I’m so sorry, Taylor.” Chad was openly crying now, but he felt just as guilty for that. How dare he be sad after what he did? After he’d been so happy whilst doing it?

“I know. I don’t forgive you yet and I don’t know when I will. But it _will_ happen, eventually. And you need to forgive yourself.”

“How?”

“You’ll find a way. I don’t hate you, Chad. In some ways I can see why you did what you did – you must have been so confused for so long.”

“You have no idea.”

She smiled sadly, “I don’t know, maybe I do.” Before Chad had even registered what Taylor had said, she was already walking back into school with Martha. He didn’t feel any less guilty about what he did, but he decided that it wasn’t doing anyone any good to avoid his friends.

So, when Friday rolled around, Chad slipped into the auditorium while the rest of the cast ran through the show one last time. They all had the day off for their final run through; their first show was that night and with the cast change they were still in desperate need of the practice.

Sharpay was the first to notice him but she barely glanced in his direction before continuing her warm-ups. He expected that it would take a while to get Sharpay’s approval and friendship, but he still wasn’t even sure he wanted it.

“Are you aware that by cheating on Taylor with a man you’ve perpetuated a harmful stereotype about bisexuality and a lack of commitment?” Kelsi asked by way of greeting. She was stood next to him, an armful of papers telling him that she’d just been to the music room to collect some sheet music.

“I- uh.” Chad started to speak, but he didn’t really know what he was going to say. Luckily, Kelsi continued.

“It’s okay though,” Kelsi said with a small grin, “I perpetuate lesbian stereotypes by being nervous around Sharpay all the time.”

Chad did a double take, but Kelsi had already escaped down the aisle toward the orchestra pit. Chad tried to stop his own grin from spreading across his face, but he couldn’t really help it – these drama kids really knew how to deliver one-liners. He followed after Kelsi at a slow pace, still not too eager about facing everyone at once. Maybe he should have messaged a few of them first, or maybe he shouldn’t have ignored them in the first place. Better yet, maybe he shouldn’t have cheated. Actually, there was no ‘maybe’ about that one. He sighed as he dumped his bag on one of the seats by Darbus’ table.

“Yo,” he felt a hand slap his back and he turned to see Zeke standing with a staple gun in one hand, a box of cookies in the other, “Your mum wanted me to bake these for your sister’s bake sale tomorrow morning.”

Chad took the box with shaking hands, “Uh, thanks man.”

Zeke nodded, looked around awkwardly and rolled his shoulders, “Look man, it was a shitty thing that you did but I don’t think anyone really _blames_ you for it.” Chad stared at him with wide eyes, his knuckles turning white around the box. “Like, I don’t know about the rest of them, but I’ve noticed a change in you, over the past few months, and it’s been a good one. You’re, I don’t know, breathing easier. Even if you were keeping a major secret.”

“That’s the problem though, isn’t it?” Chad asked, his voice shaking, “I was happy. I was doing one of the worst things someone can do, and I was happy.” He shoved the box into his bag, frustrated with himself.

“Don’t take it out on my cookies man,” Zeke said with a small pout, “and… ‘was’? You’re not happy now?”

Chad looked at his friend, shocked at the genuine concern for him despite the awful thing he had done. Zeke’s head was tilted slightly to the side, his eyebrows drawn together and his mouth in a deeper pout.

“I-” Chad sighed, “Not really, no. I’ve messed up, Zeke, big time. I just feel so…” He trailed off. He deserved to feel guilty, he had no right to complain about this.

“Is… Is Ryan not talking to you or something?”

“No, he’s-” Chad shook his head, ran a hand through his hair, “He’s messaged me a few times, let me know that I’m…not alone, y’know, that sort of thing. But I just-”

“Feel like you don’t deserve anything good at the moment?” Zeke asked, his tone suggesting that that was a stupid idea. Chad hung his head and nodded. Zeke sighed and patted Chad on the shoulder. “If he wants to be there for you, let him. Hell, let _us_. We’re still your friends, Chad.”

“Zeke’s right.” Jason said, walking up to them with Martha and Kelsi, Ryan hanging back with his hands wringing the strap of his bag. Chad gave them all a small smile and couldn’t help it growing a bit wider when his eyes landed on Ryan. The rest of their friends made their way back to the stage, Zeke patting him on the shoulder again as he went, and Ryan finally stepped over to him.

“You have one ‘I told you so’ and then you never mention it again.” Chad said grumpily, but the corners of his mouth were still turned up. Ryan tilted his head back and laughed, pushing at Chad’s shoulder playfully. Chad moved to sit on the arm of the chair at the end of the row, not unlike he did during their first fight about Taylor. But this time instead of curling in on himself and crying into Ryan’s stomach, Chad reached out a hand tentatively and pulled the blond closer by the hip. Despite his graceful moves on stage, Ryan stumbled slightly in surprise and brought his hands up to balance himself on Chad’s shoulders.

“Are you sure?” Ryan asked, biting his lip. He tapped his fingers nervously and his eyes flicked around the large space.

Chad shrugged, “No,” Ryan went to step back but Chad held him in place, “but it’s now or never isn’t it? Not like you’ll wait around for me to get over myself.”

“You’d be surprised at just how long I’d wait for you, Danforth.” Ryan said quietly, squeezing Chad’s shoulders. Chad felt his cheeks warm up and he cleared his throat then grinned cheekily up at Ryan.

“So, that ‘I told you so’. You gonna say it or are you holding onto it for leverage?”

“Oh, now isn’t that a good idea?” Ryan teased, but his smile dropped a little bit, “No, actually I just wasn’t going to say it. I might have been right, but it wasn’t exactly about a good thing, was it? I don’t feel the need to gloat.”

“How are you _Sharpay’s_ brother?” Chad said with a laugh, Ryan joining in with his own short bark. Chad glanced at the stage quickly, making sure that Taylor wasn’t here yet in order to spare her feelings, then leaned up and captured Ryan’s smile with his own, their teeth knocking together slightly.

“Well, this is certainly a surprise.” Mrs Darbus’ voice cut into their bubble and Chad stood quickly in order to let her pass and sit at the desk set up in the seats. Ryan grabbed his hand. “But it is a surprise that we do not have time for – where is my star? Mr Bolton?” She was met with silence and Chad and Ryan made their way to the stage so that they were as far away from her rage as they could get.

“Mr Bolton!?” Silence again.

“Uh,” Zeke cleared his throat and raised his hand slowly, “Troy’s gone to California to convince Gabriella to come back for the show.” He quickly stepped behind Kelsi to hide from Mrs Darbus’ glare. Kelsi gulped and clenched her sheet music a bit tighter.

Mrs Darbus took several long, deep breaths, then looked up at them all sharply, “Then someone get me his understudy.”

~~~~

“Oh, cute pants!” Sharpay said, completely oblivious of Ryan having just left the stage after his big number. Chad saw his shoulders and his smile fall as his sister continued her warmups and made her way to the stage.

“Hey,” He wrapped his arms around Ryan’s waist from behind, his heart skipping because he could actually do that now. Ryan brought his hand up to rest them on Chad’s and sighed, sagging into him before turning around with a small smile. “You were _amazing_. I don’t want to make you too excited, but those Julliard people looked _super_ impressed.”

“Probably just all the glitter.” Ryan said with a shrug, aiming for nonchalance but the sparkle in his eyes and the grin tugging at his lips gave him away. He shook himself slightly, obviously trying to refocus on the show, and led Chad over to the wings to watch Sharpay sing Gabriella’s part.

It was good – Chad would never deny Sharpay’s talent, even if he thought she was the devil incarnate – but it definitely got very awkward when Rocketman missed his cue – three times. When he finally got on stage it was obvious that no one had warned Sharpay that Troy hadn’t turned up and Ryan’s eyes were almost popping out of his head when the song had ended and Sharpay stormed off the stage. They followed after her in time to see Troy and Gabriella run through the door backstage.

“Oh, perfect! Go for it! Save the day, whoopee!” Sharpay said sarcastically and pushed her way past them to sulk in her dressing room. Ryan made to go after her, but Chad pulled him back, tugging at their joined hands.

“She’ll calm down; you have a show to save.” He said quietly, nodding to the newly arrived couple. Troy and Gabby turned to them, confused.

“You guys gotta see this.” Ryan pointed over his shoulder, bringing Chad’s hand up with him. Gabriella’s eyes widened but she didn’t have time to react before she was distracted by Rocketman on stage, a laugh bubbling up. Kelsi quickly noticed them all in the wings and got the orchestra to start the song over as Troy and Gabby rushed to their places.

Chad and Ryan watched from the wings again, pressed close together. Soon enough the rest of the cast had gathered around them, Taylor on Ryan’s other side. She smiled brightly at them, the contagious joy of Troy, Gabby, and the general vibe of the auditorium forcing them to put aside any pain in the moment. Chad was grateful for it, even if he didn’t completely realise that’s what was happening. As Troy and Gabby performed, he felt himself dancing along slightly, even mirroring their moves with his hands just as Ryan was doing which earned him a fond eyeroll from Taylor. Ryan jumped up and down when they got the choreography perfect, and they all laughed happily along with him, Chad watching him full of pride.

As the song reached its infectiously happy climax, they all piled onto the stage, thankful for the crew’s ability to put together a set that could stay up with them all standing on it.

Taylor reached Gabriella first, giving her a warm hug and a smile, and Ryan also managed to get a hug in before the rest of the cast swarm around them. Chad was shocked to see Taylor and Ryan sharing a half-hug to the side as he walked out with Troy but didn’t dwell on it long as he wrapped Gabby in a hug from behind, swaying her back and forth in time with the music. She laughed and pushed him away, toward Ryan, with a big smile.

Taylor was between them, because that’s how it was choreographed however many weeks ago, but, in the moment, it didn’t seem to matter. In that moment, they weren’t cheaters, heartbreakers, or home-wreckers; they weren’t teenagers with hallmark-movie level drama; they weren’t exes going through a rough break-up. They were friends; happy and signing and _dancing_ (and Chad didn’t think he’d ever get used to that), and they were celebrating their lives together.

~~~~

Ryan was going to Julliard, because _of course_ Ryan got into Julliard. It was _Ryan_. Despite being practically on the opposite side of the stage to him, Chad could feel the happiness and excitement radiating from the dancer and he had never been so proud in his life. Not even when his sister scored her first basket. But he didn’t have much time to revel in it.

“…The University of California, Berkley, offers me both. That’s where I’m gonna be attending next fall.”

Chad didn’t stick around to hear the rest. What was the point? It would be the usual spiel about Troy choosing Gabriella, following his heart, having the best of both worlds. It wasn’t fair. Chad put himself, put Taylor and Ryan, through so much because he couldn’t mix his two worlds, the two parts of himself, and yet Troy could do it with no problems. He made his way to the gym, threw his hat onto the bleachers, and grabbed one of the basketballs that hadn’t been put away after the last lesson that day.

“He goes up for the shot and it’s good! East High Wildcat victory for the record books!” Troy’s voice echoed in the almost-empty gym as he spun around imitating the noises of a crowd. Chad tried to stay upset, held onto those last tendrils of anger for as long as he could, but a small smile fought its way onto his face anyway.

“So, I guess once they hand us those diplomas we’re actually done here.” He said, gesturing with the basketball.

Troy furrowed his brow, “What makes you think we’re getting diplomas?”

They both breathed out a laugh and things almost felt normal again, but Chad needed to ask: “Does Berkley play?”

“Oh yeah,” Troy nodded, a sly smile pulling at his lips, “We’re scheduled to kick some Redhawk butt next November.”

Chad smiled, “Game on, Hoops.”

Troy made to grab the basketball out of his hands but faltered at the last second. He scratched the back of his neck and looked at Chad thoughtfully, “So…”

Chad gripped the ball a little tighter, “So?”

“Ryan did a good job tonight huh?”

“Good? Did you _see_ him? There was no doubt that Julliard were gonna make an exception and accept both him and Kelsi. I mean, not only did he choreograph the _whole_ show, but the notes he hit! He’s-” Chad cut himself off when Troy started laughing, the familiar, fond sound relaxing him just as much as thinking of Ryan did.

Troy shook his head, “I can’t believe I didn’t notice.”

Chad shrugged but before he could reply Troy took the basketball.

“Oh! One more steal. The final point.” They quickly fell into the old pattern and Chad didn’t even bother trying to stop the ball from flying to its rightful place in the basket.

~~~~

Graduation crept up quickly, not two weeks after the show had finished. They spent that time mainly as a group, Chad and Ryan keeping the PDA to practically-non-existent for Taylor’s sake but this time not hiding when their eyes met, or their hands brushed. It felt good, if not still mildly terrifying.

Things were good though; Chad even met Ryan’s parents as his official boyfriend which may have been the most nerve-wracking thing that had ever happened in his life – including the night that he came out to his dad (“You still want to play basketball, right?” “Of course!” “Thank God. I want to meet the boy at Graduation.” “I- I didn’t mention a boy.” “You didn’t have to son; your face says it all.”) (He totally didn’t cry happy tears, shut up).

“…East High is having friends that we’ll keep for the rest of our lives.”

Chad looked away from his best friend, his grin falling into a sad smile. He hoped that what Troy was saying was true; that he hadn’t messed things up too much.

He felt an elbow nudge his ribs and he looked to his left to see Taylor beaming at him. She still held sadness in her eyes, especially when she thought no one was looking, but her smiles were genuine again.

Chad smiled back at her. He truly had never wanted to hurt her, and he would spend the rest of his time on Earth making up for it if she allowed him to. If he had any say in it, they really would stay friends for the rest of their lives.

~~~~

**6 years Later**

“Oh my god, are you Chad Danforth? _The_ Chad Danforth, of the New York Knicks?!” A familiar voice called from behind Chad, just outside JFK airport. He turned and made his way over, handing his bags to the driver and taking his sunglasses off to level the owner of the voice with an unimpressed look.

“Not yet, the contract’s being finalised tonight.”

“You’re basically cast already, shush.” Ryan wrapped his arms around Chad’s neck and grinned when Chad tried to correct his terminology, silencing the playful lecture with a kiss.

Chad still couldn’t believe that they were together. They’d hit a rough patch during Sophomore year when Ryan hadn’t come home for the Christmas break – had actually broken up for just over a year (well, sort of. They _had_ broken up, but they also spent a _lot_ of time in one another’s beds the following summer, as much as they pretended that they didn’t). His Junior year was spent throwing himself into basketball more than ever before to ignore the fact that, every time his body was still, his fingers twitched in the direction of his phone, wanting to check if Ryan had messaged but not willing to make the first move himself. They reconciled the summer before their senior years, Ryan spending the summer at Lava Springs and Chad being forced by Sharpay (don’t even get him started on _that_ weird friendship) to help with the summer talent show again. But of course, it was Lava Springs that pulled them back together. It was that damn baseball field… Or maybe it was Ryan in baseball pants.

“What are you thinking about?” Ryan asked, pulling Chad into the town car.

“You in baseball pants.”

“Scandalous!” Ryan pretended to be offended by the thought, sprawling dramatically against the seat, hand raised to his brow. “Personally, _I_ was thinking about how we have time to watch a matinee before your meeting, which is conveniently taking place at the Hilton on the same street as the Nederland Theatre.”

Chad held back a smile at the hopeful look in Ryan’s eyes and said, “Which show is that?”, pretend reluctance dripping off his words.

“Newsies. The choreography is meant to be _incredible_.”

Chad pulled Ryan close, kissed his temple, “Then of course we’ll go. Stage door?”

“Of course! Even brought my lucky hat.” Ryan said, pulling out his blue and white striped hat, slightly worn now after so many years, and pushing it down over Chad’s hair playfully. “Oh, and Taylor said she’s free for breakfast tomorrow after they fly in but can’t do dinner; apparently Elliot has made them reservations.”

“You’re wiggling your eyebrows, why are you wiggling your eyebrows?” He asked, adjusting the hat so it was more comfortable, pulling it to the side slightly.

“Gabby heard from Martha, who heard from Jason, that Elliot was seen buying a ring the other day.”

“He’s gonna propose!?” Chad asked, eyebrows raised, then, “Wait, but Jason is in LA, how does he know Elliot was buying a ring in D.C?”

“It’s Jason, are you really going to question that?” Ryan asked, “Besides, Zeke knew Sharpay had broken her ankle the first week of her show before even _I_ did, and he’s in France; I’m no longer putting any effort into understanding the ways of our friends.”

“How did they not know we were together back in school?” Chad asked quietly, shaking his head. Ryan laughed and, at the mention of their relationship in high school, pulled the conversation back to Taylor.

“…So, you have to absolutely keep it a secret from her in the morning.”

“She’ll kill us when she finds out we knew.”

“She’s had plenty of reason and opportunity in the past; if she was ever going to kill us it would have been done already – and you know she would’ve gotten away with it.” Ryan said with a pointed look. Chad raised his hands in surrender, settling one into Ryan’s hair as he dropped them. Ryan pushed his head back into Chad’s palm, his eyes closing and a wistful smile gracing his face. “I’m so happy things worked out.”

Chad didn’t know if Ryan meant back in high school, college, or now; him getting a job based in New York so that they could finally, _finally_ live together. It didn’t matter though: Chad agreed. He hated what he put Taylor through in high school, but she was happy now. She has an amazing job at the Capitol and a potential fiancé who worships the ground she walks on, as he should. Chad would always be sorry for hurting her, but he didn’t really regret it anymore, and Taylor didn’t resent him for it. They found who, and where, they were supposed to be because of what happened; in hindsight it was exactly what they needed, who knows what would have happened otherwise.

“Hey, get out of your head.” Ryan said, squeezing Chad’s hand to get his attention.

“They’re good thoughts, I promise.” Chad gave him a small smile. He looked at Ryan properly for the first time in a few months – no screens getting in the way of the details. He’d put on a little bit of weight, built up muscle from the intensive dance he’d done at Julliard and now as an assistant choreographer, and under his eyes were the tell-tale sign of an ex-student who only just got their sleeping pattern back. He still wore obnoxious colours, but they were slightly more coordinated, and he only wore his signature hats for special occasions now. To Chad’s joy the one thing he never wanted to change hadn’t: that sparkle in Ryan’s eyes was still there, as bright as the stars in the desert sky. Chad sighed happily and Ryan turned to look at him, his brow gently furrowed. Chad leaned across the seat and placed a chaste kiss on his lips.

“Oh,” Ryan giggled, still in mild awe of the fact that Chad wanted to do that, and gave Chad a kiss of his own, “I love you, Chad Danforth.”

“I love you too, Ryan Evans.” Evans- _Danforth_ , Chad’s mind provided eagerly, but he shook the thought: there was time for that later. “The first thing I’m gonna do once the contract is signed is go to the top of the Empire State building and shout it as loud as I can so that everyone in the city, no, the _State_ , will know it. I love you, more and more each day, and I’m not afraid of that, not anymore.”

“Still won’t dance though, will you?” Ryan asked, his laugh dissolving into a happy hum when Chad captured his lips again.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, Chad became a bit of an ass in the middle there, huh? 
> 
> Kudos and Comments are, as always, welcomed and encouraged! 
> 
> ((I spent so long on this pls validate me ty))
> 
> <3


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